You are your brain

Central nervous system is made up from different structures: a structure called encephalon, which is located inside the cranium and another structure called spinal cord, placed inside the spinal canal. In the base of the CNS, the spinal cord is joined to the diencephalon through the brainstem, whose components are: the medulla oblongata, the pons and the midbrain. The telencephalon lies above the diencephalon, while the cerebellum is located behind the medulla oblongata. The spinal cord is located inside the spinal canal and, besides keeping communicated the brain with the rest of the body, it is made up from some spinal reflex circuits that take precedence over voluntary movement to those...

Nowadays it is not known so much about it, but enough to know that we are able to control the pain. For example, we know that placebo effect can make us feel better by thinking we are given a drug, or when we get hurt but we don't feel the pain within the next hours, and we have also noticed that not everybody faces the pain in the same way. The main reason is that the perception of pain depends on the circumstances  and emotions involved in this situation. In terms of evolution, feeling pain could be disadvantageous in stress or emergency situations since our body must care about surviving. However, pain is something essential in the opposite situations in order to prevent further damages....

Have you ever found yourself wondering why we sleep? Which hidden mechanism is the responsible of that apparently easy but indispensable function in our brain? Let us take a closer look of what happen while we are sleeping. There is a transition between the wakefulness state and sleep state where the subject experiences a feeling of sleepiness and it exists a gradual disconnection from the environment around us. It is quite important the role of thalamus in this process since it acts like a "door" that blocks the stimuli coming from the outside. There are three main factors that lead us to lay in a comfortable place, close our eyes and take a little nap: vigilance factor, circadian...

Nicotine is an active principle which is found in tobacco leaves. Its popularity is due to the effects this natural alkaloid produces in our brain. Inside our body it exists different types of receptors that are activated once they bind to acetylcholine. There are two types of receptors: nicotinic receptors, which are also activated by nicotine, and muscarinic receptors, which are activated by muscarine, an alkaloid present in Amanita muscaria. Nicotinic receptors can be found in the periphery, that is, in the postsynaptic membrane of skeletal muscle fibers, and in the central nervous system. The axon terminals of the neurons secrete acetylcholine, that binds to the postsynaptic membrane...

We are used to hearing about tetanus and botulinum but, what are we really talking about?  How do they act in our body?  Clostriudium tetani and Clostriudium botulinum are two types of anaerobic organisms which produce spores and are part of the Bacillaceae family. Their capacity of spore production make them possible to live even in the presence of oxygen. The effects of toxins can go unnoticed until they start producing two powerful neurotoxins capable of causing different sorts of neurological syndromes. Let us take a close look at the way these powerful toxins act in our body.  C. tetani spores can be found in the ground and can contaminate the wounds. When it exists...