Cerebral and Cerebellar Histogenesis

The brain is one of the most important and complex organs of the body. Due to its significance, much research has focussed on the development of the cerebrum and cerebellum to learn of the mechanisms involved in the lamination. The cerebrum is the major control unit of an organism being responsible for memory, its personality, and other cognitive functions. The cerebellum is critical for the coordination of movement integrating many inputs from centers in cerebrum, pons and inferior olive to correct and fine-tune motor output.

Fundamental mechanisms of neural development are conserved amongst species which allows animal models to be representative of human brain development. Popular models used include the Drosophila melanogaster and mice. Spemann and Mangold (1920s) were the first ones to discover neural induction during grafting experiments from a region they termed the "organizer". The organizer was found to (through factors such as noggin, chordin, follistatin) not only direct cells towards the neural fate but also be responsible for specifying different regions of the CNS which has consequently initiated further interest in research. The forebrain, nevertheless, is the least well studied structure of the CNS which ultimately forms the most prominent and complex region of the brain. 

The prolonged development of the cerebrum and cerebellum make them particularly vulnerable to many developmental abnormalities of which some are described here.

 

Banner Image: www.freefunandgames.org/wallpapers/Dual_Neuron_Full.jpg

Side Column Image: https://www.nanohedron.com/Brainbow_cerebellum.jpg

 

The video below shows an overview of the stages of brain development in a fetus from conception to birth. These processes are elucidated in this website in the throughout the sections.

 

Did you know?

Bilingual Brains

19/05/2010 12:00
Children who learn two languages at an early age (before 5 years) have an altered brain structure and develop much denser gray matter as adults.

Child Abuse

19/05/2010 00:00
Child abuse can severely inhibit brain development.

Emotions

19/05/2010 12:00
Emotions such as happiness, fear, joy and shyness are already developed in a newborn baby, but the way the child is brought up and the specific nurturing it receives shapes the further development of these emotions.  

First Sense

19/05/2010 12:00
The first sense to develop, even before birth, is touch. Lips and cheeks can experience touch as early as the 8th week, whereas the rest of the body is capable of feeling after 12 weeks.

Growth stop

19/05/2010 12:00
The brain of a normal adult human only grows in the first 18 years of its life.

Neurons

12/05/2010 12:00
During early pregnancy, neurons develop as fast as 250,000 neurons per minute.

Read Aloud

19/05/2010 12:00
It has been proven that reading alound and talking to a child advances brain development.

Stimulation

19/05/2010 12:00
A child has a 25% greater ability to learn if it experiences a stimulating environment, whereas an environment with little stimulation will result in the child losing 25% of its capability to learn.