The Rat Nervous System

Professor Paxinos is the author of almost 50 books on the structure of the brain of humans and experimental animals, including The Rat Brain in Stereotaxic Coordinates, now in its 7th Edition, which is ranked by Thomson ISI as one of the 50 most cited items in the Web of Science. Dr. Paxinos paved the way for future neuroscience research by being the first to produce a three-dimensional (stereotaxic) framework for placement of electrodes and injections in the brain of experimental animals, which is now used as an international standard. He was a member of the first International Consortium for Brain Mapping, a UCLA based consortium that received the top ranking and was funded by the NIMH led Human Brain Project. Dr. Paxinos has been honored with more than nine distinguished awards throughout his years of research, including: The Warner Brown Memorial Prize (University of California at Berkeley, 1968), The Walter Burfitt Prize (1992), The Award for Excellence in Publishing in Medical Science (Assoc Amer Publishers, 1999), The Ramaciotti Medal for Excellence in Biomedical Research (2001), The Alexander von Humbolt Foundation Prize (Germany 2004), and more Dr Steve Kassem completed his BSc at the University of Sydney in Neuroscience and Psychology. He then went on to complete his honors year at the Brain and Mind Research Institute, looking into the morphological changes of chronic stress on neurons, glia and gray matter. At the Brain and Mind he published work revealing the composition of gray matter represented by its cellular components, and how changes to these components resulted in concomitant changes in gray matter volume. Subsequently, he went on to complete his PhD, in a dual supervision, at the University of Sydney and the University of NSW, looking into the effects chronic stress and its morphological changes had on learning behaviors and their neural circuits. Kassem was appointed a postdoctoral fellowship to work with Scientia Professor George Paxinos AO, bringing his novel histological and MRI skills to Prof Paxinos’ work on visualizing and defining the brain. He has recently completed two books, “Atlas of the Developing Mouse Brain” and “Chemoarchitectonic Atlas of the Rat Brain”, works completed with Prof Paxinos.

I: Development
1. Gene Maps and Related Histogenetic Domains in the Forebrain and Midbrain
2. Neuromeric Landmarks in the Rat Midbrain, Diencephalon, and Hypothalamus, Compared with Acetylcholinesterase Histochemistry
3. Tangential Migration in the Telencephalon
 
II: Peripheral Nervous System
4. Peripheral Autonomic Nervous System
5. Primary afferent projections to the spinal cord
6. Spinal Cord Cyto- and Chemoarchitecture
7. Substantia Gelatinosa of the Spinal Cord
8. Ascending and Descending Pathways in the Spinal Cord
 
III: Brainstem and Cerebellum
9. Cerebellum and Cerebellar Connections
10. Periaqueductal Gray
11. Oromotor Nuclei
12. The Lower Urinary Tract
 
IV: Diencephalon, Basal Ganglia, Amygdala, and Septum
13. Organization of the Hypothalamus
14. Hypothalamic Supraoptic and Paraventricular Nuclei
15. Circumventricular Organs
16. Thalamus
17. Basal Ganglia
18. Amygdala and Extension of the Amygdala
19. Dendritic Organization of the Basal Forebrain Cholinergic Projection System: Specific or Diffuse?
 
V: Cortex
20. Hippocampal Formation
21. Cingulate Cortex and Pain Architecture
22. Isocortex
 
VI: Systems
23. Central Autonomic System
24. Somatosensory System
25. Pain System
26. Gustatory System
27. Olfactory System
28. Vestibular System
29. Auditory System
30. Visual System
31. Cerebral Vascular System