Last updated 1/3/05

CNB 521   Human Neuroanatomy

     This is an intensive 9 week graduate course (please see schedule below) in Human Neuroanatomy (3.0 units) taught simultaneously with the first year Medical Student Neurosciences class. The course consists of lectures in neuroanatomy and basic neurophysiology, plus two hour laboratory sessions that complement the majority of the lectures.  

     The object of this course is to provide students with a conceptualization of how the normal central nervous system functions and integrates with the other systems of the body. Neuroanatomy primarily involves training in basic anatomical skills. The first of these is the development and acquisition of a spatial concept of the important, and ultimately clinically relevant, elements of the nervous system. This includes investigation of the location of important elements of the nervous system, their relationships to one another and their connectivity, and emphasizes their individual functional roles in nervous system operation. The second is the skill necessary to recognize nervous system malfunction, and to provide the vocabulary necessary to allow professional communication (including both written and oral presentations of research topics) related to nervous system disease. In order to acquire these skills, lectures, videotapes, and films are used. Textual material is presented in the form of a detailed syllabus, atlases, and exercise books. Reinforcement is provided through laboratory work with whole human brains, stained microscope slides of key sections through human brain and spinal cord, models, 35 mm slides, videodiscs and computer programs, radiographs, including CAT scans, MRI images, and photographs of histochemical localization within the brain. Neuroanatomy actively involves the integration of structural with physiological and biochemical concepts, as well as correlations with selected clinical cases. In addition, within the neuroanatomy classes themselves, functional, neurochemical, or clinical correlations are frequently made. An effort is made to integrate didactic material with case-study presentations that are problem-oriented. Finally, consideration and integration is made with other organ systems of the body that bear directly on the normal function of the nervous system, as well as a consideration of those systems which come under nervous or neuroendocrine control.

Registration:  Graduate Students interested in taking the course may register after obtaining D Clearance from the Office at the Department of Cell and Neurobiology.  Bishop 401, School of Medicine (442-1881, please speak with Darlene or Lisa).  Note that grades will be late, as the course ends after the end of the Spring 2005 semester.

Course Director:

       Judy A. Garner, Ph.D. , Associate Professor, Cell and Neurobiology, 442-1279, jgarner@hsc.usc.edu  

Contributing Faculty, Neuroanatomy lectures and laboratories:

      Judy A. Garner, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Cell and Neurobiology, 442-1279, jgarner@hsc.usc.edu  

      Wendy Gilmore, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Neurology; Cell and Neurobiology, 442-1054, wgilmore@usc.edu

      Thomas McNeill, Ph.D. Professor, Cell and Neurobiology, 442-1625, tmcneill@usc.edu

Contributing Faculty, Physiology lectures:

      Jeannie Chen, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Ophthalmology, 442-4479, jeannie@usc.edu

      Robert Farley, Ph.D.,Professor, Physiology and Biophysics, 442-1240, rfarley@hsc.usc.edu

      Judy Garner, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Cell and Neurobiology, 442-1279, jgarner@hsc.usc.edu     

Texts: RECOMMENDED not REQUIRED!!!

            Young, P.A.  and Young P.H., Basic Clinical Neuroanatomy,Williams and Wilkins, 1997

            Blumenfeld,  Neuroanatomy through Clinical Cases, Sinauer, 2002

            Nolte, J. The Human Brain (4th edition) Mosby Year Book, 1999 (Available to buy at the Bookstore)

ATLASES: One is required: Either of these is very HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

            Haines, D.E. Neuroanatomy: an atlas of structures, sections and systems., (4th edition) Williams and Wilkins 1995

            Watson, C. Basic Human Neuroanatomy, an introductory atlas (5th edition). Little Brown and Co., 1995

NEUROANATOMY REVIEW: For review and reference at the end of the course or for later:

            Nolte, J. The Human Brain Study Guide (4th edition)  Mosby Year Book (1999)

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

Students are responsible for the lecture material, laboratories, and self studies described below. Students should see the course instructor about where they will be participating in the laboratories.  The midterm and final exams for the graduate students are different from those of the medical students and will be a mixture of short answer, multiple choice and essay.  Graduate students will also be responsible for writing a 10 page paper on a neuroanatomy research area to be approved by the instructor.  The paper is due the Monday after the final exam (May 2).