Molekuláris bionika és infobionika szakok tananyagának komplex

Introduction to Functional Neurobiology  

Neurobiology II. 

Imre Kalló, Tamás Freund 

Pázmány Péter Catholic University 

Faculty of Information Technology 

Budapest, Hungary 

[e-mail], [e-mail] 

 

 

Summary — This subject provides a deep 

analysis and illustrates with experiments of the 

operation of neuronal networks by putting a 

particular emphasis on the processing of ol-

phactory- and visual information, the function 

of the thalamus, hippocampus, and the soma-

tosensory- and visual cortices. Emphasis is also 

given to the conclusions drawn from the disor-

ders of the central nervous system. Separate 

lectures deal with theoretical and practical 

problems of modeling the operation of individ-

ual neurons and neuronal networks, the diag-

nostic and experimental potentials of the mod-

ern imaging techniques and the therapeutic 

approaches from the employment of stem cells 

to the high tech neurosurgery tools. 

Keywords - principal neurons, interneurons, 

synapse, neural network, action potentials, field 

potentials, ion channel, information coding, 

neuron- and network models, oscillations, 

pathological neuronal function, imaging tech-

niques, neuro-invasive procedures

I.

I

NTRODUCTION

 

The examination of the physiological 

and/or pathological operations of the living 

organisms, as well as in vitro or in vivo inter-

ventions on it require (i) the development and 

everyday usage of special tools, the size of 

which extend from the nano- to macro world 

and (ii) the collection, processing and display 

a huge amount of data.  In the lectures we 

review the theoretical aspects and experi-

mental works through which the co-operation 

of the nerve cells and their building of func-

tionally different networks may be under-

stood. To be more precise, we undertake to 

explain the significant difference in function-

ality of single nerve cells and that of the cellu-

lar networks formed by the individual neu-

rons. Additionally students learn the classical 

and data recording and processing methods, 

and the potentials and limitations of the cur-

rently used experimental-, analytical-, and test 

methods on the structure and function of the 

central nerve system.  

A.

Prerequisites:bakcground knowledge 

The subject is offered to students, who al-

ready have a thumbnail image on the structure 

and function of the nervous system, and thus 

they have acquired the sufficient knowledge 

about the cellular elements and the organiza-

tion rules of the CNS. These students are fa-

miliar with the spatial orientation, relationship 

and function of the major units of the CNS, 

the structural and functional characteristics of 

the cellular elements, as well as the types and 

operation of receptors and ion channels.  

The formal prerequisite is the subject “Ba-

sics of Neurobiology”. 

B.

Topics

The lectures on the topics of sensory sys-

tems (perception and processing of the soma-

tosensory, olphactory and visual information) 

motor systems (somatomotor system, basal 

ganglia and cerebellum) and the rhythm-

generating-, thalamocortical, and hippocampal 

systems are structured at a similar manner; 

following the introduction of morphological, 

neurochemical and electrophysiological char-

acteristics of the structural elements of the 

networks, the functional specifics of the net-

31

---

work activity is demonstrated, and finally 

details are given about network-related infor-

mation coding and decoding, information pro-

cessing and storage.  

There are also lecture series, which explain 

the theoretical background and practical sig-

nificance of the electrophysiological methods 

used in neuroscience and neurosurgery, and 

the modern imaging techniques. The patho-

logical operation of the nervous system is also 

presented in a series of lectures by demon-

strating the morphological and functional al-

terations in epilepsy, Alzheimer's disease, 

motor system disorders (especially Parkin-

son's disease) and anxiety/depression and 

conclusions are drawn for the altered network 

activity and potential restoration approaches.  

The pathological alterations of the nervous 

system and the resulting malfunctions can be 

cured by modern neurosurgical interventions, 

which are based on accurate and complex 

analyses of diagnostic images, and pre- and 

intraoperative electrophysiological recordings. 

The demonstration of these processes flashes 

the practical (therapeutic) achievements of 

information technology to the interested audi-

ence.

 

II.

R

ESULTS

 

The specific issues based mainly on the re-

search of internationally respected lecturers. 

This knowledge is completed by the latest 

results available in the literature. Besides pre-

senting results of the experiments on photo 

slideshows, the understanding of the meas-

urements, experiments and examinations are 

facilitated by video demonstrations. 

More than 1000 slides are has been creat-

ed. The animation showing neuronal activity 

in the hippocampus, the development of syn-

chronous cellular activity, and the putative 

operation of information filtering to separate 

signal from noise during learning have a spe-

cial value and offer an easy way of under-

standing basic network functions. 

A

CKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

 

Authors express their special thanks to 

Zsolt Liposits, Szabolcs Káli, György Kar-

mos, Zoltán Nusser, László Acsády, József 

Haller, Zsófia Maglóczky, Norbert Hájos, 

Emília Madarász, Anita Kamondi, Lóránd 

Erős, Miklós Palkovits, Zoltán Vidnyánszky, 

Róbert  Gábriel,Zoltán Kisvárday, Tamás 

Molnár for their help. Grateful thanks to Géza 

Zboray for the precise proof reading and use-

ful hints.  

33

32

---