Basic Neuro Anatomy

Abstract

Anatomy, one would think, does not change. After all anatomically we are much the same as we were tens of thousands of years ago. What continues to change is our understanding of the form and function of our anatomy. The advent of current imaging techniques helps us understand the relationship between physical and structural anatomy and function. The nervous system has been particularly difficult for anatomists, physiologists, and physicians to investigate. The brain and spinal cord are enclosed in boney compartments, the brain in the skull and the spinal cord in the spinal canal surrounded by the bones of the spine. The nerves that project from and to the nervous system are found throughout the body. Their relationships and how they control muscles and organ systems is a continued area of research. Needless to say volumes have been and continue to be written about Neuro Anatomy. Many scholarly books are available from the usual sources. We attempt here to form the most very basic understanding of the form and function of the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves as a basis for understanding subsequent chapters on disease processes that affect the nervous system’s form and function.