The brain is one of the most important organs. It is not only responsible for controlling all vital bodily functions, but also enables us to think and remember. In addition, it is the center of emotional experience and therefore has a major influence on the life of every human being.
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Leading Medicine Guide Editors
Article overview
Significance and function of the brain
As a rule, the brain has an average weight of 1.5 kilograms. The volume is primarily dependent on body size and gender. However, there is no direct correlation between the weight of the brain and a person's intelligence.
Due to its great importance, it requires special protection against injuries and shocks. For this reason, it is protected by numerous buffer structures as well as a thick skull bone. The buffer structures act as effective shock absorbers.
In order for the brain to function fully, billions of nerve cells must communicate with each other continuously and exchange data. Basically, electrical impulses are used for this, which work in a similar way to a modern computer network.
Structure of the brain
The human brain is one of the most complex organic structures. It consists of two different halves, which are connected by a so-called beam. Medicine generally refers to these as hemispheres. In addition, medicine roughly divides the brain into four main areas. These are
- Cerebrum
- cerebellum
- Diencephalon
- Brain stem
The cerebrum
The cerebrum is the most highly developed part of the human brain. On average, it comprises over 80 percent of the brain mass and therefore also represents the largest part of the brain. It has a strongly folded cortex with a thickness of two millimeters. This ensures a greatly enlarged surface area.
The cerebrum consists of over 23 billion nerve cells. Many people refer to them as grey matter because of their grey color. The term cortex is also widely used in medicine.
Medicine divides the cerebrum into three central areas. These are the sensory fields, the motor fields and the thought fields. In the sensory fields, the brain processes the sensory impressions it receives and in the motor fields it coordinates movements. Finally, thinking and remembering take place in the thought fields.
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The cerebellum
Weighing an average of 100 to 150 grams, the cerebellum is only a tenth of the mass of the cerebrum. It is located directly at the base of the skull under the posterior skin flap of the cerebrum. This part of the brain is responsible for balance and language acquisition. It also stores certain movement sequences so that they can be performed automatically after a one-off learning phase. For this reason, the cerebellum is also part of the motor system.
The diencephalon
This part of the brain is located directly between the brain stem and the cerebrum. It mainly fulfills important vegetative tasks and also controls the biorhythm. Medicine characterizes several parts of the diencephalon. These are
- Thalamus
- epithalamus
- metathalamus
- subthalamus
- hypothalamus
Each of these sub-areas is responsible for processing other information. This includes feelings such as sadness and joy as well as information from the sensory organs. For this reason, constant cooperation with the cerebrum is necessary. The diencephalon therefore filters all incoming information before it is passed on to the cerebrum, thereby avoiding overloading it.
The brain stem
The brain stem is the oldest part of the brain. Both the right and left hemispheres of the brain surround it almost completely. A distinction is made between the following areas:
- Midbrain
- hindbrain
- bridge
- extended spinal cord
Each sub-area is responsible for different tasks. The main task of the midbrain is to transmit data between the spinal cord and the cerebrum. It also coordinates the movements of the eyes.
A large proportion of vital processes, however, are controlled in the hindbrain. In addition to the heartbeat, it is also responsible for metabolism and breathing. It also controls some reflexes such as coughing or hiccups. The nerve pathways from the spinal cord cross inside the hindbrain. For this reason, information from one side of the body is always processed in the opposite side of the brain.
The cranial nerves
The cranial nerves are collections of specialized nerve cells that arise from the cranial nerve nuclei. These are neurons that are located in the brain stem. Unlike all other nerves in the body, these do not originate in the spinal cord. The only exception to this is the accessory nerve. This is also considered a cranial nerve, although it actually originates from the spinal cord.
The majority of all cranial nerves are merely peripheral nerves that are not considered an integral part of the brain. The olfactory nerve and the optic nerve are special. Both are actually sections of the brain, but are still counted as cranial nerves for traditional reasons.
There are a total of twelve cranial nerves, each of which is arranged on both sides. These are numbered with Roman numerals in Soemmerring's official classification of 1788. Each of the twelve cranial nerves transmits information from the brain to a specific area of the body, thereby controlling all muscles and organs. The cranial nerves include
- Olfactory nerve
- optic nerve
- Eye movement nerve
- oculomotor nerve
- Triple nerve (subdivided into the oculomotor nerve, mandibular nerve and maxillary nerve)
- Oculomotor nerve
- Facial nerve
- Balance and auditory nerve
- Lingual-pharyngeal nerve
- wandering nerve
- Leg nerve
- Hypoglossal nerve
Common brain diseases
Every year in Germany alone, over one million patients are treated for brain diseases. In most cases, these are patients with migraine or polyneuropathy. In addition, however, more and more neurodegenerative diseases are occurring in many Germans. In particular, cases of Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis have increased in recent years. With modern treatment options, doctors are now initiating promising therapy in many cases.
Strokes are among the most common brain diseases in Germany. In many cases, they lead to a limiting disability or death of the patient. In Germany, this disease is treated in clinics that specialize in strokes . They mainly rely on systemic lysis therapy and mechanical thrombectomy. With both treatment methods, doctors significantly improve patients' quality of life after a stroke.
In addition, cerebral hemorrhages due to blunt force trauma, traumatic brain injury and meningitis also occur frequently. Finally, in addition to brain tumors, Germans also frequently suffer from epilepsy. Specialists treat each of these diseases with different therapy methods. In many cases, drug therapy with psychotropic drugs is used. In particular, treatment with neuroleptics and antiemetics is widespread in Germany.
