MODULE 1
INTRODUCTION
- - We start this Module by looking at the skull and the meninges - tissue layers that protect the brain from the harsh environment of the outside world. Given the close relationship between the meninges and cerebrospinal fluid, we consider it as well. Then, we go on to the brain.
- - The best way to present the clinical anatomy of the brain is by taking up systems, one at a time - motor, sensory, visual, etc. But you can't trace these systems through the brain unless you have some familiarity with the "territory". For example, we will tell you, in Module 5, that the main motor pathway descends through “the pyramids, found in the ventral part of the medulla”. But what do the words pyramid, ventral and medulla really mean? So, we will use the first two modules of this program to give you a crash course in the anatomy of the brain and spinal cord. Module 1 will cover the forebrain - the region above the red line in Figure 23. We will, in fact, focus on the cerebral hemisphere (= the telencephalon). The second component of the forebrain, the diencephaon, will be considered briefly. In Module 2 we say a bit more about the diencephalon and go on to describe the brainstem and spinal cord. There will be lots of names to memorize and very little discussion of brain function.
- - At the bottom of the page, just below this note, is the usual collection of links. They are found at the bottom of every page in the Pixelated Brain and you should experiment with all of them sometime soon. To proceed through the module in a normal way always click on "next". If you want to navigate elsewhere - for example to an atlas - click on "I want to". PIX BRAIN HOME takes you to the home page for this program. MODULE 1 HOME takes you to the home page for this module. I WANT TO takes you to a page that provides links to just about everything.
MODULE 1 HOME___NEXT___PIX BRAIN HOME