Presentation of the slide scene. Here you see, in the middle of the stage, the brain and spinal cord straight from behind. The small vignette in the upper left shows the brain and a little of the cervical spinal cord as seen from the left side. In the vignette, you should notice that the longitudinal central axis of the central nervous system (the blue line) is not straight but is quite strongly bent forward, almost 90 degrees, in the transition between the brainstem and the cerebrum. The cerebrum is thus tipped downwards in relation to the brainstem and spinal cord. It will therefore be impossible if you do not cheat a little bit, in one and the same image plane showing the brain and spinal cord seen from behind, to be able to show all the nuclei of the system in a reasonably comprehensible way. One way to get around the problem is to imagine turning the large brain backwards/upwards over a transverse axis (blue ring with red cross) and thus straightening the curved longitudinal axis so that the large brain nuclei lie in a row in front of the brain stem and spinal cord nuclei (which are already more or less in a row). Step 1 shows how to imagine the straightening.

Step 1.

Proposal for straightening the CNS axis. The red arrow shows how to imagine the twist around the transverse axis - blue ring with a red cross. The result of the twist is hinted at by the blue-green large-brain shadow.

Step 2.

Straightened CNS axis. The twist over the transverse axis has taken place. The cerebrum is now more or less located on the same longitudinal/longitudinal axis (blue line in the vignette) as the brainstem and spinal cord.

Step 3.

Translucent cerebrum hemispheres. Here, the cortex and white matter of the large brain have become translucent. You can glimpse in the depths the nuclei of the cerebellum and midbrain as well as the cerebellum.

Step 4.

Side-aligned cerebrum hemispheres. Here, the nuclei of the end brain and midbrain are now completely exposed.

Step 5.

Split transparent cerebellum. Exposed cerebellar and brainstem nuclei. The cerebellum is forked. The cerebellar hemispheres are perceptible and pulled to the side. The nuclei of the cerebellum and brain-stem lie exposed. In the next step, the nuclei of the spinal cord are also exposed.

Step 6.

Systematic review of the major nuclei of the central nervous system. The bark and white matter of the large and small brain have been removed from the image but can be retrieved by clicking on the respective heading with small text below. The picture now shows the presence of nuclei (color) throughout the central nervous system. The names of the cores are arranged in flyouts (lists 1 through 5) according to the principle that at the top of a list are the cores that are at the back (dorsally). When you enter the picture, all the lists are lit up and collapsed. Unfold the lists in turn. Turn down the names from top to bottom. Identify the different cores. Click on the core of the image or on its name in the list to get information!! You should examine the scene at different magnifications (put the pointer in the large field, hold more Ctrl, and click) and move around the Stage as you go (put the pointer in the large field, hold more Alt, and move the image with the pointer).

Brain atlas

Central nervous system nuclei