Dissection of the Human Brain

Lennart Heimer, MD (1930-2007) was renowned in two related spheres: neuroanatomy education and research on the brain's limbic structures. He harbored an indefatigable commitment to medical education in the neurosciences. Both editions of his textbook for medical students, The Human Brain and Spinal Cord: Functional Neuroanatomy and Dissection Guide, are regarded as among the most lucid available accounts of this difficult subject. Dr. Heimer served for many years on the editorial boards of The Journal of Comparative Neurology and Neuroscience. His series of books on experimental neuroanatomical methods, Neuroanatomical Tract-tracing Methods, is a standard reference among working neuroscientists. Dr. Heimer's acclaimed series of teaching videotapes and DVDs demonstrating the prosected human brain, which emerged out of now locally legendary sessions with neurology and neurosurgery residents at the University of Virginia, have been acquired by generations of students, neuroscientists, and clinicians. Dr. Heimer's research focus was the neuroanatomy of the brain's limbic structures. Upon completing training in medicine at the University of Gothenburg, he was recruited in 1965 to the Department of Psychology and Brain Science of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He had developed what was, at the time, the most sensitive silver method to map the pathways of nerve fibers in the brain and soon formulated revolutionary new concepts about the basic organization and connectivity of brain structures that regulate emotions and motivation. Concepts conceived in his laboratory, first at MIT and later in the Neurosurgery and Neuroscience departments at the University of Virginia, have served for more than 30 years to energize inquiry in the basic and clinical neurosciences in subdisciplines ranging from drug abuse research to neuropsychiatry.

PART 1 DISSECTION OF THE HUMAN BRAIN WITH SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON BLUNT DISSECTION OF MAJOR PATHWAYS Introduction Cerebral Hemisphere from the Medial Side Cerebral Hemisphere from the Lateral Side The Temporal Lobe - Cerebellum and Brainstem PART 2 DISSECTION OF THE HUMAN FOREBRAIN Surface Topography and Coronal Sections, Ventricle System, and Horizontal Sections Introduction Surface Topography Coronal Sections The Ventricle System and Horizontal Sections SELECTED SEGMENTS FOR LECTURE PRESENTATION AND STUDY Neuroanatomy Overview and Basic Definitions Brain and Environs: Cranium, Ventricles, and Meninges Corticospinal Tract and Other Motor Pathways Somatosensory Pathways Cerebral Hemispheres and Vascular Supply Visual System - Brainstem and Cerebellum Overview Cerebellum Basal Ganglia Limbic System: Homeostasis, Olfaction, Memory, and Emotion Higher-Order Cerebral Function Author Biography Acknowledgements