1^st week

Spinal cord

•  Introduction into the development and basic structure of the CNS :

•  neural plate, neural tube, neural crest, cerebral vesicles and ventricles

•  basal and alar plate

•  basic cells: neuron, glia, ependyma

•  Spinal cord:

•  macroscopical description, review on blood supply and meninges

•  cross section (obligatory pictures!)

•  structure of the gray matter : nuclei of the posterior, lateral and anterior horns, Rexed´s zones

•  structure of the white matter : tracts of the posterior, lateral and anterior fascicles

2^nd week

Brain Stem I (Oblongate medulla, Pons)

1. Macroscopic description:
- ventral surface
- dorsal surface

2. Fossa rhomboidea (rhomboid fossa) – nuclei of cranial nerves (obligatory picture!)

3. Cross sections I – III - location of nuclei of cranial nerves and tracts
I – level of the nuclei of posterior funiculi
II – level of hypoglossal nerve nucleus
III – level of facial nerve nucleus

4. Formatio reticularis (reticular formation) – basic description of the structure (groups of nuclei) and function

3^rd week

Brain Stem II (Cerebellum, Mesencephalon)

Cerebellum
Short review of cerebellar phylogeny (vestibulo-, spino- and neocerebellum)
Basic structure of cerebellar cortex and its connections.
- afferent pathways /mossy and climbing fibres/
- vermal, paravermal and hemispheric cortex
- cerebellar nuclei and their connections and functional importance

Mesencephalon
Basic structure on the cross sections: tTectum, tegmentum, crura
- obligatory picture – section of the mesencephalon at the level of superior collicle
Tracts /afferent and efferent/ passing the mesencephalon

4^th week

Diencephalon

1. Brief review of diencephalic development
2. Basic parts: epithalamus, thalamus, metathalamus, subthalamus, hypothalamus
3. Thalamus: review and connections of most important thalamic nuclei
4. Hypothalamus: medial and lateral groups of nuclei and their importance
5. Hypophysis: basic structure of anterior and posterior lobe, hypophyseal portal vascular system

5^th week

Telencephalon

Short review on telencephalic development (terminal lamina, hemispheres with ventricles)
Archi-, palaeo- and neocortex
Basics of gyrification, cortical areae of Brodman
Basal ganglia
Limbic system

6^th week

Brain ventricles, meninges, blood vessels

Meninges and blood vessels of the spinal cord
Cerebral meninges (including cerebral cisternae)
Cerebral ventricles
Cerebral arteries
Cerebral veins, intracranial venous sinuses

7^th week

CNS pathways I

Association tracts
short and long

Commissural tracts
Cortical commissures - corpus callosum, anterior (rostral) commissure, fornical commissure
Subcortical commissures - habenular commissure, posterior commissure

Projection tracts
Afferent (ascending, sensoric) tracts
- Direct sensory tracts:
a) Spinobulbar tract
b) Spinothalamic tract
c) Sensitive tracts of cranial nerves
- Indirect sensory tracts = connections of cerebellum

8^th week

CNS pathways II

Projection tracts
Afferent (ascending, sensoric) tracts
- Specific sensoric tracts:
•  optic tract
•  acoustic tract
•  vestibular tract
•  olfactory tract
•  gustatory tract

Efferent (descending, motor) tracts
- Pyramidal tract
- corticospinal fibres
- corticonuclear fibres
- Extrapyramidal tracts:
•  tectospinal tract
•  rubrospinal tract
•  vestibulospinal tract
•  reticulospinal tract
- Brain stem tracts
•  Medial longitudinal fascicle
•  Posterior longitudinal fascicle (of Schütz)

9^th week

INTERGRATION CONFERENCE
Nervous system and regulation of motor functions

10^th week

Visual system

Basic structure of the eye ball
Structure of the eye ball wall (3 layers, iris and ciliary body, blood vessels of the eye ball)
Contents of the eye ball: lens, vitreous body, ocular camerae
Accessory ocular organs
Eye ball muscles, lacrimal apparatus, orbital adipose body, eyelids and conjunctives
Blood vessels and nerves of the orbit
Optic tract – repetition

11^th week

Auditory and vestibular system

Acoustic system
External ear (auricle, external acoustic meatus, tympanic membrane)
Middle ear (walls and openings, mastoid cells, auditory ossicles, Eustachian tube, vessels)
Inner ear (basic structure of the cochlea, perilymph, endolymph)
Vestibular system
Bony and membranous labyrinth
Sacculus, uriculus and semicircular ducts
Acoustic and vestibular tract – short review

12^th and 13^thweek

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14^th week

INTERGRATION CONFERENCE
Nervous system and sense organs