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Brain, Tissue

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Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine

Definition

Neural or brain tissue is specialized for communication through the transmission of electrical signals. The majority (approximately 98%) of neural tissue is found within the brain and the spinal cord. It is composed of two basic classes of cells: nerve cells (or neurons), which transmit communication signals, and glial cells, which act to support both the structure and function of neurons (Carlson, 2004).

Neurons

The basic functional unit of the brain is the neuron. Its functional role is to send and receive the electrical impulses that communicate messages about sensory, motor, and cognitive events throughout the brain. The average brain contains roughly 100 billion neurons. Although there are upwards of 1,000 different types of neurons, they all have the same basic structure and function.

Each neuron has a soma, or cell body, that performs all the basic metabolic functions required to keep the cell alive and functioning. At one end of the cell body are the dendrites; these...

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References and Readings

  • Carlson, N. R. (2004). Physiology of behavior (8th ed.). Toronto, ON: Pearson.

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  • Conners, B. W. (2005). Synaptic transmission in the nervous system. In W. F. Boron & E. L. Boulpaep (Eds.), Medical physiology (pp. 295–324). Amsterdam: Elsevier/Saunders.

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  • Kandel, E. R. (1991). Nerve cells and behavior. In E. R. Kandel, J. H. Schwartz, & T. M. Jessell (Eds.), Principles of neuroscience (4th ed., pp. 19–35). Toronto, ON: McGraw-Hill.

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  • Nolte, J. (2009). The human brain: An introduction to its functional neuroanatomy (6th ed.). Amsterdam: Elsevier/Mosby.

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  • Pinel, J. P. (2006). Biopsychology (6th ed.). Toronto, ON: Pearson.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, (306) 966-4343, Canada

    Victoria Harms & Dr. Lorin Elias

Authors
  1. Victoria Harms
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  2. Dr. Lorin Elias
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Correspondence to Lorin Elias .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Behavioral Medicine Research Center, Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA

    Marc D. Gellman

  2. Cardiovascular Safety, Quintiles, Durham, NC, USA

    J. Rick Turner

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Harms, V., Elias, L. (2013). Brain, Tissue. In: Gellman, M.D., Turner, J.R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1005-9_1105

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1005-9_1105

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-1004-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-1005-9

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