Question

Discuss in detail 5 techniques that are predominantly used on animal subjects for neuroanatomical studies. Make sure to include the reasoning for using each technique. Discuss in detail 5 techniques that are used on human participants for neuroanatomical studies. Make sure to include the reasoning for using each technique.

Answer 1

Some of the techniques used on human subjects for neuroanatomical studies are-
- Stereotactic surgery - is a minimal invasive surgery in which a stereotaxic device is used to locate small targets inside the body to perform radiosurgery, biopsy, lesion etc.
- Micropipetting technique - micropipettes are used to inject minute quantities of chemicals in precise locations of brain to record behavior
- Histochemistry - relies on the knowledge of biochemical reaction properties of the chemical constituents of the brain (including notably enzymes) to visualize where they occur in the brain and note any functional or pathological changes
- Animal whole brain functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) facilitates non invasive window into brain activity
- Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWMRI) - is the method where the specific MRI sequences as well as software are leveraged to generate images from the resulting data that uses the diffusion of water molecules to project contrast in MR images

Techniques used on human subjects for neuroanatomical studies are-
- Computerised Tomography (CT) can be called as an amplification of X Ray. In this, an image of horizontal slice of tissue is reconstructed for inspection.
- Positron Emission Tomography (PET) - provides physiological properties of the living human brain. It's used to study patterns of brain activity that are involved in higher mental functions
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) - provides a mathematically reconstructed image of slices of living tissue by using nuclear magnetic resonance
- Staining - is a microscopic approach to study brain anatomy wherein a sectioned tissues is darkened to highlight various features of the tissue
- Nissl staining - is useful as it helps visualise the distribution of cell bodies in the specimen
- Electroencephalogram (EEG) is used to measure the electrical activity of the brain which is recorded through electrodes placed on the surface of the scalp