The Half Decent Pharmaceutical Chemistry Blog

When I found this picture on my neuroscience book, I thought it looked like it had been taken from some American comic...doesn't it? However, I like it and decided to put it on my blog.

Well, studies on monkeys are certainly of paramount importance for neuroscientists, considering the many similarities between our brain and that of, say, rhesus monkey.

Many studies are carried out on this animal. Chemoarchitecture, for example, is based on the different distribution of receptors. Neuroanatomy is performed on dead monkeys: basically, you inject a dye and track the path. Obviously, both require the so-called animal sacrifice.
Single cell recording needs the animal to be alive and awake: as the picture above shows, electrods are inserted in the brain in order to register the activity of particular neurons according to the kind of stimulation. It has to be said that a certain (high) level of comfort for the monkey is always guaranteed: juice is released every time it completes its task, the chair where it sits must be very comfortable, etc.

Sure, studies are performed on human beings too. First of all, there is ablation: when there is a (rare) damage to only one specific area of the brain, this gives the opportunity to determine the function(s) of that part, comparing with normal patients. This technique was the only one the pioneers of neuroscience (such as Broca) could use to map the brain.
Moreover, nowadays, instrumental techniques such as EEG, fMRI and PET help us to study directly on human beings.