Nervous System Development and Neuroplasticity Lecture Notes

Vocabulary terms and definitions regarding the development of the nervous system, cellular stages, critical periods, developmental disabilities, and neuroplasticity.

Ectoderm

The outermost layer of embryonic cells from which the neural plate develops on day $21$.

Endoderm

The inner germ layer that develops during gastrulation.

Mesoderm

The middle germ layer that develops during gastrulation.

Neural tube

A structure critical to brain and spinal cord development that forms when the neural groove closes $4$ weeks after conception.

Neural stem cells

Self-renewable cells that line the neural tube and produce progenitor cells.

Progenitor cells

Cells derived from stem cells that divide a limited number of times and are pushed to differentiate into a specific target cell.

Neuroblasts

Precursors of neurons during development that are also involved in adult neurogenesis.

Globalists

Cells that differentiate into astrocytes and oligodendrocytes.

Astrocytes

Microglial cells that support neurons by forming the blood brain barrier, providing nutrients, and maintaining extracellular ion balance.

Oligodendrocytes

Glial cells that insulate axons in the Central Nervous System (CNS).

Dendritic arborisation

The branching of dendrites that, in some cases, allows a single neuron to receive up to $100,000$ inputs.

Melanogenesis

The seventh stage of brain development, defined as the formation of myelin.

Critical periods

A time span during which brain development is most sensitive to experience, such as the period for language acquisition between ages $5$ to $13$-ish.

Filial imprinting

A process where a young animal acquires its behavioural characteristics from its parents, as demonstrated by Konrad Lorenz with geese.

Socioeconomic status (SES)

A factor associated with cortical thickness, surface area, and grey matter volume in the frontal and temporal lobes, reflecting synaptic proliferation and pruning.

Cerebral palsy

A condition that can be caused by brain injury during intrauterine life, at birth, or acquired after birth; $13/14$ cases in Australia result from injury in utero or before $1$ month of age.

Microcephaly

A condition resulting in a smaller head, identified as a neural structure impact of Foetal alcohol disorder (FASD).

Hydrocephalus

The accumulation of Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) in the brain.

Neuroplasticity

The reorganization of the brain through changes in neural pathways and synapses due to behaviour, environment, neural processes, thinking, emotions, and injury.

Structural neuroplasticity

The ability of the brain to change its neuronal connections, including the production of new neurons and changes in grey matter proportion.

Functional neuroplasticity

The ability of the brain to modify the functional properties of neurons, such as strengthening or weakening synapses to change firing rates.

Long term potentiation

The strengthening of synapses in functional neuroplasticity.

Long term depression

The weakening of synapses in functional neuroplasticity.