What is brain?

What Does brain Mean

The Greek word enképhalos derived from the scientific Latin encephalos , which in turn came to our language as brain . This is the name of the group of organs that are found inside the skull and are part of the central nervous system of vertebrate animals .

The skull is a structure of bones whose cavity is the brain. The protection conferred by this bone sector is very important for life, since the brain directs most of the activities and actions essential for a human being.
The main part of the brain corresponds to the brain , which is divided into lobes. This body is responsible for the control of the nervous system and is subdivided into forebrain or forebrain ; mesencephalon or midbrain ; and rombencéfalo or hindbrain .

These three vesicles begin to develop from the four weeks of life of the embryo , when the neural tube has closed and the neural crest has formed. Let's see below a detailed description of each of them and their respective parts. Let's start with the forebrain, in which we find the telencephalon and the diencephalon. It is the largest part of the brain, and when observing it we can notice the right and left hemispheres.
The telencephalon is subdivided into a striatum, a rhinencephalon and a cerebral cortex, in which the following lobes are found: the occipital, the parietal, the temporal and the frontal, which cover such fundamental functions of our body such as language , vision, organs of movement, hearing, smell and perception, among others. In particular, the frontal, the parietal and the temporal are in charge of learning, without which we could not develop and survive.
In the diencephalon we find the epithalamus, within which is the gland that produces melatonin , a hormone of great importance. There is also the thalamus, where sensations are controlled, the subthalamus, a structure that is linked to motor functions, and the hypothalamus, the center that regulates emotions and physical control, in addition to secreting the hormones oxytocin and vasopressin.
Regarding the midbrain, we can say that it has four tubercles that are related to vision (the two anterior) and hearing (the two posterior). In addition, it is responsible for filtering the data that passes between the rhombencephalon and the forebrain.
Finally, the rhombencephalon arrives, a portion that is located around the fourth ventricle of the brain and is made up of the myelncephalon and the metancephalon. It is located on the spinal cord and is made up of three parts: the bulb, the bridge of Varolio and the cerebellum.

In turn, in the metancephalon we have the cerebellum , which allows the integration of motor and sensory pathways, is responsible for the control of movement, posture and energy of the muscles. Returning to the myelencephalon, there we can see the medulla oblongata (also known as the brainstem ), which controls some essential functions, such as breathing and blood circulation through the heart.
Since the medulla oblongata is an extension of the spinal cord , it is correct to say that it enables communication between the spinal cord and the brain.
Brain problems can lead to all kinds of disorders and even death. Body control, memory and intelligence depend on the brain, with which damage to this set of organs has serious consequences.
The schizophrenia , the Parkinson 's disease , the Alzheimer 's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis are some diseases that affect the brain. There are also bacteria and viruses that, by generating an infection , alter its functioning.