NEUROPSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY 2021-2022
Lecturers: D'Hooge Rudi, Op de Beeck Hans
Goals:
- Students acquire general knowledge and insight into psychopharmacology, pharmacological research methods, as well
as some specific knowledge about the effects of particular psychopharmaceuticals and drugs on human brain function
and behaviour
- Learn to relate cognition, emotion, and behaviour to the structure and function of the nervous system
- Know and understand clinical descriptions and pathophysiology in neuropsychology
Topics:
- General psychopharmacology, mechanisms of action of psychopharmaceuticals and drugs (principles of pharmacology,
specificity and side effects, pharmacokinetics and dynamics), overview of the large families of psychopharmaceuticals
and drugs (psychotropic drugs, antidepressants, antipsychotics, anxiolytics, analgesics), preclinical and clinical testing,
pharmaceutical R&D
- Neuroscientific methods, such as hemodynamic methods (functional magnetic resonance imaging; positron emission
tomography), neurophysiological methods (electroencephalography; transcranial magnetic stimulation;
magnetoencephalography), registration of neuronal activity, behavioural pharmacology and clinical trials
- Functional neuroanatomy and neurophysiology of the cerebral cortex, including the neural basis of perception,
attention, memory, language, executive functions, and emotions
- Clinical description of neuropsychological symptomatology (e.g., disorders of attentional functions, perception,
language, praxis, and memory), including neuropathophysiology (mechanism, causes, localization, hemispheric
lateralization, …)
Lecture overview:
Date Theme Lecturer
17/02 Psychopharmacology (1A) Rudi D'Hooge
24/02 Psychopharmacology (1B) Rudi D'Hooge
03/03 Psychopharmacology (1C) Rudi D'Hooge
10/03 Psychopharmacology (1D) Rudi D'Hooge
17/03 intro neuropsychology + lesion/neuropsych methods Hans Op de Beeck
24/03 Methods: electrophysiology & brain imaging Hans Op de Beeck
31/03 The seeing/numerate brain Hans Op de Beeck
21/04 The hearing/speaking brain Hans Op de Beeck
28/04 The attending/acting/executive brain Hans Op de Beeck
05/05 The attending/acting/executive brain Hans Op de Beeck
12/05 The remembering brain Hans Op de Beeck
19/05 The literate/social/emotional brain Hans Op de Beeck
Evaluation:
- 100% of the evaluation of this course is based on a written exam (closed book).
- The exam shall consist of open questions, and possibly some multiple choice questions. Please note that this might also
require the reproduction of drawings or figures. Obviously the esthetic quality of the reproduced drawings is of no
importance - only content counts.
- The exam will consist of three parts (all in one session):
1) Self-study part (2/20): basic neuroanatomy (figures) + text “primer to the nervous system” (MCQ)
2) Psychopharmacology (6/20; teaching of Prof. D'Hooge)
3) Neuropsychology (12/20; teaching of Prof. Op de Beeck)
- All questions will be in English. Responses can be given in English, but also in Dutch as long as correct terminology is
being used.
Study material: Compulsory study materials include lecture content (lecture notes), slides that are used during the lectures
(made available on the Toledo blackboard), overview articles, and an English textbook (see Toledo). Smartphone app “3D Brain”
is obligatory (also online available). Study material from the course “Human Biology and Pathology” can partly be used for the
basic knowledge test.
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,PART 1: PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY
Study material
- Slides & lecture notes
- Texts on Toledo
- YouTube lecture by Prof. David Nutt
- (no book)
NEURAL SIGNALING AND NEUROMODULATION
1. HUMAN NERVOUS SYSTEM (NS)
Psychopharmacology studies the chemicals in the brain and the effect they have on the brain
Brain consists of different parts:
- Cerebrum (biggest part of the brain)
- Brain stem
- Thalamus / hypothalamus
- Spinal cord
- Peripheral nerves: provide interaction between
CNS and the rest of the body
- Gyrus – sulcus: cerebral cortex (outsider layer of
the brain)
Pyramidal cells: branched extensions; top part
is axon; bottom part are dendrites
Within the animal kingdom: humans have biggest brain (but still limitations on how big it can get; has to get through
the birth canal and can’t grow bigger than our skull)
4 brain lobes with different functions:
(1) Frontal lobe:
- Front part of the brain
- Controls typical psychological functions
o Problem solving, planning
o Ability to be aware of our emotions,
behavioural control, ability to have a
conscious life,
o Word production
- Most human part of our brain (largest portion
of the brain)
(2) Parietal lobe:
- Top part of the brain behind the frontal lobe
- Sensory awareness; pain
(3) Occipital lobe:
- Back of the brain
- Vision: first part of the brain were visual impulses get processed
(4) Temporal lobe
- On the left and right side of the brain
- Processing of visual material/impulses
- Important for the expression of emotions and memory (if there’s for example an issue with the
hippocampus, people may experience memory loss, recounting memories, etc.)
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, MRI imaging of the brain:
(1) CORONAL SECTION
- Used to study the structure and the functioning of the brain
- Coronal section of the cerebrum
- This scan crosses the parietal lobes and a part of the temporal lobe
o You can see the division between the 2 lobes by deep fissures
o Deep into the fissures you can see the insula (deep cortical structure
that is not visible from the side of the brain)
- Cerebral cortex (white in image): the outermost layer of gray matter making up the superficial aspect of the
cerebrum
o Contains cell bodies of the braincells (grey matter)
o The inside tissue is called the white matter
- Also visible (other deep structures that consist of grey matter):
o Striatum: contains neuronal activity related to movements, rewards and the conjunction of both
movement and reward. Striatal neurons show activity related to the preparation, initiation and
execution of movements.
o Thalamus: small structure within the brain located just above the brain stem between the cerebral
cortex and the midbrain and has extensive nerve connections to both. The primary function of the
thalamus is to relay motor and sensory signals to the cerebral cortex.
o Corpus callosum: in the centre of the brain; connection between the 2 hemispheres of the brain;
ensures both sides of the brain can communicate and send signals to each other.
o Hippocampus: complex brain structure embedded deep into temporal lobe; has a really important
role in learning and memory (interface between short-term and long-term memories)
(2) HORIZONTAL SECTION
- Fissures that separate the different lobes are very visible
- Frontal lobe, temporal lobe, and the occipital lobe
- Also visible:
o Gyri and sulci: the folds and indentations in the brain that give it its
wrinkled appearance. Gyri (singular: gyrus) are the folds or bumps in
the brain and sulci (singular: sulcus) are the indentations or grooves.
o Striatum
o Thalamus
o Lateral ventricles of the brain: division between the 2 lateral
ventricles is a thin tissue called septum
Neurons
- Can mostly be found in the cerebral cortex, cerebrum, and the brain
stem
- Are formed differently depending on which part of the brain they’re part
of; different cell morphology depending on the part of the brain they’re
situated at (e.g. pyramidal cell of the cerebral cortex vs. purkinje cell of
the cerebellar cortex)
- Glial cells (support) (most frequent kind of cells in the brain)
o Astrocyte
o Oligodendrocyte
o Microglia
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, Pyramidal cells / neurons
- 1. Soma/cell-body = main part of your cell where all vital
processes are being done; they surround the nucleus and
contain cytoplasm (= fluid within the cell)
- 2. Nucleus
- 3. Axon hillock = very sensitive place, a lot of information
comes together in here
- 4. Dendrites = tentacle like part of the neuron that receives
signals/information from other neurons. The transfer of
information from neuron to neuron is achieved through
chemical signals and electric impulses. They’re the most active
part of the neuron
- 5. Axon = transfers the electric impulses to the other side of the
neuron to pass it on to another neuron
- 6. Schwann cells/myelin sheath = these cells insulate the axon
which makes the signal move faster
- 7. Nodes of Ranvier = the only parts on the axon where the
information can interact with the ‘outside world’ and can be influenced
- 8. Axon terminals = the end part of the neuron where communication
with other neurons can occur
Synapse = the contact point where the axon reaches the next nerve cell
o Presynaptic cell: axon reaching the next neuron (presynaptic
nerve terminal)
o Postsynaptic cell: the next neuron (postsynaptic membrane)
o Are situated at the dendrites
o Place were neurotransmitters are released
2. IMPULSE TRANSMISSION
Neurons will get different inputs from all the synapses; this can lead to
the resting potential changing into an action potential
(1) Resting potential:
= the state of a cell in which the membrane potential remains
stable
- Caused by unequal distribution of charged ions in and out cell
- A-ions and K+ ions have higher concentration in cytoplasm of
axon, and cause inside of cell to be negative
- Cl-ions and N+ ions have higher concentration out cytoplasm
of axon, and cause outside of cell to be positive
Present in all cells of body
Excitable cells use it to form electrical signals
When cell loses its resting potential it will die
o All ion channels open
o Calcium can enter cell and causes cell death
(2) Action potential
= the state of a cell in which the membrane potential rapidly rises and falls (explosive
depolarization)
- Potential-sensitive ion channels pick up differences E.g. Voltage-gated sodium
channels or potassium channels
- Net sum of EPSP’s and IPSP’s that cell receives is important:
o If it leads to depolarization of cell: opening of voltage-gated sodium channels
o If it leads to repolarization of cell: opening of voltage-gated potassium channels
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