Introduction to the Brain: Structure and Function

Dr Jenna Ziebell:
Nicole and I are in the dry labs at the medical school at the University of Tasmania, to use
some of the plastic models to illustrate the structure and function of the brain. So, Nicole,
can you please take us through the model that you have in front of you?

Dr Nicole Bye:
Okay, well, what this model is showing us is called a sagittal view of the brain, where the
head in fact has been sort of sliced right down the middle so we can see the brain and how
it's situated in the head and joining the rest of the body. What I'd first like to point out using
this model, is the protection that's been afforded to the brain by the skull. We all know that
the skull is a thick piece of bone that's surrounding the brain - there are actually a number
of different bones - but typically it averages about six to seven millimetres, or a quarter of
an inch thick, and this is the primary protective layer in the body to support the brain.
Well, there's another protective structure supporting the brain, and this is called the
meninges: three different layers of membranes completely surrounding the brain, and
they'd be in this region here - they don't show up well in this model. The outermost
membrane of the meninges is called the dura and it's a super tough, thick, clear membrane -
very tough tissue. And underneath the dura is called the arachnoid mater, which is the sort
of second membrane, which is quite spongy if you will, and underneath that is the pia mater
- so the innermost membrane closest to the brain itself. So, these membranes surround the
cerebral spinal fluid, or CSF, and this is also acting to protect the brain. Together the
membranes and the CSF provide a lovely cushion between the brain and the skull. When we
move our heads, it sort of anchors the brain in place, and also provides cushioning to
prevent the brain from rubbing up against the very rough interior of the skull.

Another aspect we can see where we've got this sagittal view of the brain and the head is
how the brain is connected to the rest of the body. So all the different structures of the
brain (which Jenna will be discussing in a minute), we can see that all these structures - all
the signals coming from these different structures - end up moving through the brain stem
and joining to the spinal cord, sending the messages from the brain to all the different parts
of the body. Jenna would now take us through and talk about these different areas of the
brain and the particular roles that they have.

Dr Jenna Ziebell:
If we were to take the brain out of the skull, we would have a very soft tissue that weighs
about 1.5 kilos in an adult. What we can see on this model is a lot of ridges and grooves,
that kind of take on the sausage-like structure or appearance, and these are the sulci - or
the grooves, and the gyri - or ridges, and they mean that the brain kind of folds in on itself
to allow more brain in a smaller region. In this high contrast model, we can still see the sulci

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and gyri of the brain or the ridges and the grooves which make up the cortex, and the brain
can be divided into two halves or hemispheres.

So, looking at the right hemisphere we can see the sulci and gyri and the major divisions
that make the different lobes of the brain. In orange we can see the frontal lobe and its
primary role is higher order thinking. This is also known as decision making or problem
solving - is it okay to cross the road, or waiting to for the light to turn green before we drive
off from the lights. It also has a role in emotional regulation and personality.

In blue we have the parietal lobe and this lobe takes its name from the bone plate that sits
above it. The parietal lobe is primarily responsible for interpreting the sensory information;
so, information from our surroundings that we get maybe in our legs, or our arms - any
region of the body - it comes to this region of the brain for interpretation.

In green here at the back of the brain we can see the occipital lobe and its primary role is to
interpret our visual fields - so the information coming from our eyes is interpreted in this
green occipital lobe.

In yellow we can see the temporal lobe and the temporal lobe has a number of roles. It has
a role in memory formation as well as housing the region of cortex known as the auditory
cortex; so, the information that our ears receive about sound is interpreted in this region of
the brain. The temporal lobe also has a role in emotion and language.

The last part that I wanted to talk about if we turn the brain upside down: we can see this
silver region, or the cerebellum, and that literally translates to the little brain and it has a
role in balance and coordination.

What you can't see as well in this model that Nicole spoke about earlier is the brain stem
and how it connects to the other regions of the body such as the spinal cord and sending
those signals out to the rest of the body.

Now if we're to break this brain in half so it mirrors what we've seen here in the sagittal
view, we can see the cortex and the different lobes that I was just speaking about and then
in white we can see the corpus callosum. Now the corpus callosum is a white matter tract
that connects the two hemispheres of the brain together to allow communication between
each hemisphere, or each half of the brain.

What you can't see as well on this brain or the section of brain that I have right now is the
hippocampus and the amygdala, and these two regions have a role in memory but also in
emotions. What other functions does the amygdala have Nicole?

Dr Nicole Bye:
Fear - lots of fear of processing.

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Dr Jenna Ziebell:
What we can see now in this view is the pons and medulla and how they connect to the
brainstem - so the midbrain through to the brainstem. Together these regions control the
processes we don't really think about like breathing or respiration, our heartbeat or heart
rate, as well as some motor functions.

The other structures that you can see in this view are the hypothalamus and the pituitary
gland. This is really important when it comes to hormones - the sex hormones as well as
growth hormones, and together they also control things like our desire to eat.

Dr Nicole Bye:
Well, so you've now talked about how all these brain regions have a sort of primary function
or a main role that they control, but I guess it's important to remember that all these
different regions work in concert - they all work together to control all the facets of the
brain and everything that our body then does.

Dr Jenna Ziebell:
That's right. So now let's move to the microscope and have a look at the cells that make up
the brain and how they function.

I’m here at the microscope to dive deeper and look closer at the cells that make up the
brain. The brain has two main cell types: the nerve cells also known as neurons, and the glia
or supporting cells.

Let's first look at the neuron. In this cartoon schematic you can see a neuron. In the input
zone, also known as the dendrites, messages are received. If this communication is to
continue an action potential will be generated at the axon hillock, and an electrical signal
will move down the axon to the axon terminals, where a chemical also known as a
neurotransmitter will be released. This communication by nerve cells allows us to undertake
all our activities from eating and drinking to talking and moving, but it also lets us do things
that we don't really think about like breathing.

Nerve cells are not alone; they are supported by a range of glia - the first of which is the
myelin producing cells. In the brain, they are known as oligodendrocytes. They produce
myelin that wraps around the axons and this provides insulation for those electrical signals.
It allows the signal to travel further and faster.

Another type of glia is the microglia, and these small cells are the immune cells of the brain.
They primarily protect the brain from disease and damage.

Lastly there's the astrocytes and these are supporting cells that help bring nutrients from
the blood into the brain to help feed the cells. All tissue has barriers from the blood to the
tissue, and in the brain, this is tightly controlled through the blood brain barrier, and
astrocytes provide stability to this barrier.

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Now that we've heard a little bit more about the cells that make up the brain let's look at
where these cells sit.

Dr Nicole Bye:
Okay, well now that we've come from Jenna showing us at the microscope the different cell
types in the brain and the structure of the individual cells - the neurons, for example, with
the cell bodies and the long axons - I just want to have a look inside the brain to see where
these cells would sit and how they make up the brain. So, if we took the top of the cortex off
just to have a look inside, one of the first things you can see is the different colour of the
tissue, and this is the grey and the white matter. The grey matter is running all around the
edge of the cortex and this is where the neuronal cell bodies sit. And coming from the
neuronal cell bodies are those thousands of axonal projections leaving the cell bodies and
going to make connections with other cell bodies, and that is the white matter of the brain.
We talked about the myelin, which is that fatty white substance that's insulating those
axons, well that is actually giving the colour to the white matter - it's the myelin. Now all
these white matter projections, or a lot of them, feed into this structure here, which is
called the corpus callosum. This is the longest white matter structure within the brain and
its role is to join the two brain hemispheres, because you can see when you look at the brain
that the left and the right sides are quite distinct from each other: they're physically
separated, and it's only these white matter projections of the corpus callosum that are
sending the information across the different sides of the brain.

Dr Jenna Ziebell:
Now we've learnt more about the protection of the brain through the skull and the
meninges, or those membranes that wrap around the brain. We've learnt about the cortex
and how it can be divided into lobes and what the primary role of those lobes is; the largest
white matter tract of the corpus callosum and how it communicates between the two
hemispheres or the two halves of the brain, as well as the cerebellum - the little brain that
controls balance and movement, and how these structures lead into the midbrain and the
brain stem to send signals to the rest of our body. Now it's time to move on to learn about
what happens to our brain after a traumatic brain injury.

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