Anatomic regions functions

The brain is the integrative portion of the nervous system that serves to receive, process, and store sensory information and then plan and orchestrate the appropriate motor response. It is divided into several anatomically and functionally distinct regions (see Table 6.2). The forebrain consists of the cerebrum, basal ganglia, thalamus, and hypothalamus. The midbrain, along with the pons and the medulla of the hindbrain, composes the functional region referred to as the brainstem. The cerebellum is also considered a component of the hindbrain but is functionally distinct from the brainstem. 

Recently, Sedqi et al. [24] were able to clone a delta opioid receptor complementary DNA by expression of cDNA library from activated thymocytes in Cos 7 cells, whose amino acid sequence was similar to the neural counterpart. Interestingly, they also observed that transcripts for kappa and mu opioid receptors were not detected in thymocytes. Furthermore, Gave-riaux et al. [25] demonstrated transcripts for the delta opioid receptor in T-lymphocyte, B-lymphocyte, and monocyte cell lines, as well as in murine splenocytes. However, they observed that the kappa opioid receptor transcript was only found in B-cell lines. These studies may suggest a selective expression of the delta opioid receptor in specific cells and tissues of the immune system and suggests specialized functions in different anatomical regions. 

From the anatomic and functional points of view, the thigh can be divided in three main regions anterior, medial and posterior. 

Nuclear medicine studies may reveal information that is primarily anatomic in nature, or indicate the function of an organ on a regional basis (Table 1). These studies may be intended to identify new disease, confirm or deny suspected disease, or foUow the progress of treatment or the course of disease. The diseases may be relatively benign or extremely serious and can range from widespread medical problems such as ischemic heart disease to rarities such as Legge-Perthe s disease and malignant pheochromocytoma (7). 

Textbooks on neuroscience often describe the location and function of hundreds of individual brain regions (see references above). However, for current purposes these will be kept to a minimum (Figure 2.1). Anatomically, the brain can be subdivided into the forebrain containing the telencephalon and diencephalon, the midbrain or mesencephalon and the hindbrain (metencephalon and myelencephalon). The telencephalon includes the left and right cerebral hemispheres encompassed by the cerebral cortex (neocortex). Cortex is a translation of the word bark and is so-called because its surface, made up of numerous sulci (grooves or invaginations) and gyri (raised areas), is on the outer surface of the brain like the bark of a tree. Each hemisphere is divided into four lobes, named from the front (rostral) to back (caudal) of the brain frontal, temporal, parietal and occipital. 

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