-plain x-ray is not useful in neuro because it only shows bones, the 2 common useful methods used are

CT and MRI

-only recent infarction can be seen in CT images, along with haemorrhage

-brain oedema can be seen in MRI but not in CT

-T2 is for in-depth study (the time constant is prolonged), where they inject a dye in the lumbar cistern,
the dye will circulate in the ventricular system to give details of the interior of the brain, and CSF
appears white

-In T1 CSF, appears black in colour

-functional MRI is used to study the functions of the brain, if it’s done when the patient is talking the
speech site will be excited and can be seen

-Focus on CT & MRI

-raised intracranial pressure will show indentations in the skull

-If you combine CT scans with an injection of dye into veins or arteries it’ll be called CT-A or CT-V

-In CT scans the bone looks thick and white in colour

-In MRI the bone looks very thin and greyish in colour

-Haemorrhage will appear white just like the colour of the bone

-The most hyper-dense structure would be white like the bone, hypo-dense jet black like CSF

-The first level is just touching the upper part of the lateral ventricle

-Line no. 2 is within the lateral ventricle cavity, it shows two points of the lateral ventricle; passing
through the body and anterior horn so it shows two opening compared to level no. 1

-Level no. 3 is not completely horizontal it is slightly oblique, it was designed to show details of 3
ventricle spaces at the same time; the trigone, the 3 rd ventricle and the anterior horn of the lateral
ventricle

-Level no. 4 is passing through 2 cavities only, the inferior part of the 3 rd ventricle and the inferior horn
of the lateral ventricle

-Level no. 5 is important for 2 landmarks; amygdale (part of the limbic system) and hippocampus (centre
for memory learning)

-basal ganglia aka basal nuclei; nuclei present deep in the brain, neuronal cell bodies dissociated from
the cortex present within the brain within the white matter
-first know corpus striatum; corpus means body, striatum; having lines or stria, this body is composed of
two different components the caudate nucleus and lentiform nucleus, these two nuclei are called so
even though they’re grey in colour they connect with each other, the connections are having striations
because of the white colour of the axons, although they have different functions

-lentiform nucleus is similar to a biconvex lens in shape, this nucleus has within it has two subcategories,
globus pallidus (medially) and putamen (laterally)

-other basal ganglia are not found in the cerebral hemisphere like the subthalamic

-caudate nucleus has the shape of comma and has 3 parts: head, body, and tail

-subthalamic nuclei is related to the third ventricle

-amygdale is the higher centre for emotion and can be seen in level 5

-substantia nigra in the midbrain, a lesion will cause Parkinson’s disease

-hippocampaus is related to level no. 5

-hippocampal formation is the centre for recent memory and learning, it’s not involved in long-term
information.

-information flows from the hippocampal formation to a higher centre the intermediate zone (the
mammillary body) and then to the higher area in the cerebral cortex. (pre-frontal cortex)

-whatever you learn in med school, you use the hippocampal formation for it makes recent memory
only

-Examples: information learned in the first week of neuro will be in the mammillary body, information
learned in the anatomy of the hand would be in the higher cerebral area in the pre-frontal cortex,
information from yesterday would be in the hippocampus

-hippocampus has a limited number of neurons compared to the pre-frontal cortex

-level no. 2 is just touching the top of this bundle connecting the hippocampus with the mammillary
body, the bundle is formed of neuronal cell axons, It has only the axons arising from the neurons in the
hippocampus that are ending in the mammillary body, these axons together make a tract like structure
called the fornix which has different parts

-the initial part of the fornix which arises from the hippocampus is named fimbriae

-fimbriae is connected to another zone which is called the crus

-the body of the fornix is located at the body of the lateral ventricle, and is formed by the union of 2 crus
from both sides
-then the body divides into 2 columns, one anterior to the anterior commisure, and one is located
posterior to the anterior commissure

-hippocampus is connected to the mammillary body via the fornix

-the post-commissure fibres are shown in the diagram, but the pre-commissure are not shown

-thalamus is located on both sides of the third ventricle, it is completely composed of neuronal cell
bodies, (doesn’t have axons) it contains 13 nucleus

-the geniculate bodies are not at the back they are at the bottom, they’re located inferiorly and not
posteriorly

-Section no. 2 of the thalamus will show the tip of the anterior nucleus only

-Section no. 3 will show the anterior and posterior (pulvinar) nucleus of the thalamus

-Section no. 4 will show the lateral geniculate nucleus and the posterior nucleus

-Section no. 5 will show the lateral and medial geniculate nuclei

-Section no. 1:

-body of corpus callosum is the one at the highest level, of all 4 parts of the corpus callosum

-red coloured texts are the ones that change with each section

-Corona radiata is part of the deep structures of the brain; it contains the axons of tracts;
corticospinal tracts

-anterior and posterior forceps are bundles (axons) of fibres connecting one cerebral
hemisphere with the other one, they run within corpus callosum, using right and left pre-frontal
cortex, their function would be correlated via the forceps

-Anterior forceps correlate both sides of the pre-frontal cortex from both sides

-Inversion recovery MRI is similar to T1 weighted

-Section no. 2:

-passes through the lateral ventricle in to points, the body of lateral ventricle and anterior horn

-the levels are not 100% identical on both sides

-the higher level shows the internal capsule, and also shows the body of the lateral ventricle, the
lower level shows the corpus striatum (head of caudate nucleus and putamen)
 -in slide no. 17, the trigone is labelled on one side, but the other side shows the body of the
lateral ventricle

-the septum pallucidum is first seen in level no. 2, separating the two lateral ventricles

-the head of caudate nucleus is cut whenever you see the tail of caudate nucleus

-Section no. 3:

-This is the level where it was made obliquely to show 3 cavities; the anterior horn of lateral
ventricle, the third ventricle, and the trigone.

-In this cut you can also see the basal ganglia, the head and tail of caudate nucleus

-details of the part of the internal capsule can be seen in this level

-capsule indicates axons, so everything in the internal capsule is myelinated, these axons run in
specific pattern

-in the anterior limb you’ll get, frontopontine, occipitopontine and tempopontine fibres, all of
them will run in the anterior limb, in addition to the connection b/w the thalamus and cerebral
cortex

-genu of internal capsule has only fibres of corticobulbar tract, upper motor neuron of cranial
nerve nuclei

-posterior limb has the corticospinal and all the ascending tracts, whatever reaches the
thalamus the third order neuron arise from the nuclei of the thalamus will reach the cerebral
cortex via the posterior limb and all the connections b/w the cerebellum and the cerebral cortex

-whenever there is a cerebral haemorrhage the artery supplying the posterior limb (the lateral
striate) is the one responsible

-a stroke with paralysis can be due to damage of posterior limb of the capsule which is supplied
by the lateral striate artery

-slide no. 21 shows one of the cruses of the fornix

-lentiform nucleus is deep to the insula

-from the surface of the insula you can see several layers, from outside there is the cerebral
cortex which is the grey matter, the white matter of the insula is called the extreme capsule, and
then there is a grey structure called the claustrum which is a part of basal ganglia then there is a
white layer called the external capsule, then lastly there is the parts of lenticular nucleus, then
b/w the lenticform nucleus and the thalamus is the posterior limb
 -There are 5 parts of the internal capsule; ant. limb, genu, post. limb, retrolenticular part
(extends to occipital lobe and contains optic radiation) & sublenticular part (contains auditory
radiation)

-Which part of the internal capsule is shown b/w the head of the caudate and lentiform nucleus??

Anterior limb of internal capsule

-What part is b/w lentiform and thalamus?

Posterior limb of internal capsule

-Section no. 4:

-you see only the lower part of the third ventricle, the tip of the anterior horn and the tip of the
inferior horn. (5 cavities in total)

-The landmark of the 4th horizontal section is the anterior commissure (you see it as a thick band
of whitish structure), it connects the two cerebral hemispheres, it has axons of neurons
connecting one side with the opposite

-Section no. 4 shows 5 cavities; 2 tips of anterior horn of lateral ventricle, third ventricle, 2
inferior horns of lateral ventricle

-the third ventricle is the only ventricle in the middle

-Midline structures: longitudinal fissure, anterior commissure, third ventricle, cerebral aqueduct
and cerebellar vermis

-the level is cut obliquely so you can see some parts of the midbrain, like the crus cerebri, the
black line of substantia nigra, red nucleus cerebral aqueduct and tectum of midbrain

-column of fornix can be seen on either sides of the third ventricle (post-commissural fibres of
the fornix) just behind the anterior commisure

-Hippocampus can be seen in the floor of the inferior horn of the lateral ventricle

-From the mid-brain you can see (from anterior to posterior): the red nucleus, lateral geniculate
nucleus, superior colliculus (for visual reflexes, and forms the tectum of the midbrain), brachium
of superior colliculus (connects the superior colliculus with the lateral geniculate nucleus), pineal
gland (the most posterior part related to the third ventricle)

-slide no. 26: the white CSF which is seen in the ventricles is also circulated in the subarachnoid
cisterns, and since there is only one cistern related to the colliculus of the midbrain then it is the
 quadrigeminal cistern which is called so because it’s related to 4 bumps, 2 superior colliculus
and 2 inferior colliculus, and it’s the only cistern related to the third ventricle

Section no. 5:

-it is a thick level and shows two “phases”

-What is seen in the superior view of section no. 5 is the same as the horizontal section of level
no. 4

-optic tract is also seen clearly in the superior view as it runs related to the crus cerebri (in front
of it)

-the optic tract runs in front of the crus cerebri, and substantia nigra is behind it, having melanin
hence it is black in colour

-the inferior view shows the superficial parts which can be seen from the base of the
cerebellum, the optic tract and chiasm, mammillary bodies, amygdala, and the infundibulum

-amygdala is in front of (anterior) the lower part of the inferior horn of the lateral ventricle

-while the hippocampus is located inferiorly in the inferior part of the lateral ventricle

-you can also see the decussation of the superior cerebral peduncle, so it is seen white because
it contains axons of neurons that are myelinated which appear white, and you can also see the
inferior colliculus

-you can see substantial nigra and crus cerebri (which are located in the higher levels of mid
brains) together with the decussation of the cerebral peduncle and inferior colliculus, because
the cut has been taking obliquely, the anterior part is high and the posterior part is low