Morphological neurosciences research

The scope of the research is focused on morphological changes in diseases examining brain vital areas. The observations are carried on animal models experimentation and retrospectively on brain imaging modalities.  

• Structure and organization of selected areas of the brain: Investigating and mapping neocortical connections via immunohistochemical staining methods on rat brain models. Designated brain areas of interest are basal ganglia, claustrum, hippocampus, thalamus, and amygdaloid body. In addition to mapping surface receptors within the investigated connections as they potentially can serve as sites for pharmacological neuromodulation.   
• Neuronal degenerative changes in post status epilepticus: Investigating post-ictal short and long term neuronal changes in experimentally provoked seizures in animal models. The aim is to map structural and connectivity damage and observe the pattern of morphological localizations within basal ganglia, hippocampus and parahippocampal areas.
• Neuroimaging in epilepsy: Assessing available modalities. Bridging our findings on the experimental models mapped areas of damage as a tool into clinical practice where we can develop approaches to detect those changes via imaging methods with reliable sensitivity.  
• Basal Ganglia: Neuroanatomy of the circuitry, arterial blood supply, and related morphological disorders.  
• Peripheral nerves: Meta-analysis and literature review aiming to comprehend the complexity of selected nerve nuclei and distribution into its scattered terminal sites of innervation.

Team: prof. MUDr. Rastislav Druga, DrSc. (Supervisor)