PSYB30H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Dendritic Spine, Ependyma, Oligodendrocyte
Document Summary
Nervous system cells are small, are packed tightly together, and have the consistency of jelly. To see a brain cell, it must first be distinguished from surrounding cells and then magnified using a microscope. The first anatomists to study brain cells developed methods of highlighting individual cells in nervous system tissue. To make it firm, they soaked it in formaldehyde, which removes the water from the tissue. The firmed-up tissue was then sliced in thin sheets that could be placed under a microscope for viewing. Camillo golgi immersed a thin slice of brain tissue in a solution containing silver nitrate and other chemicals, a technique used at the time to produce black-and-white photographic prints. The structure suggested that the nervous system is composed of a network of interconnected fibers. He thought that information, like water running through pipes, somehow flowed around this nerve net and produced behavior. But santiago ramon y cajal came to a different conclusion.
