Neuromusicology or Musiconeurology? “Omni-art” in Alexander Scriabin as a Fount of Ideas

Science can uncover neural mechanisms by looking at the work of artists. The ingenuity of a titan of classical music, the Russian composer Alexander Scriabin (1872–1915), in combining all the sensory modalities into a polyphony of aesthetical experience, and his creation of a chord based on fourths rather than the conventional thirds are proposed as putative points of departure for insight, in future studies, into the neural processes that underlie the perception of beauty, individually or universally. Scriabin’s Omni-art was a new synthesis of music, philosophy and religion, and a new aesthetic language, a unification of music, vision, olfaction, drama, poetry, dance, image and conceptualization, all governed by logic, in the quest for the integrative action of the human mind toward a higher reality of which music is only a component

POSLJEDNJA PUBLIKACIJA CONSTANTINA VON ECONOMA: KOMENTAR NA „ÉVOLUTION CÉRÉBRALE” CHARLESA FRAIPONTA

This paper highlights a commentary written by the neurologist Constantin von Economo on a book published by the Belgian paleontologist Charles Fraipont in 1931. The commentary appears to be Economo’s last opus, published posthumously in early 1933. The reviewed work deals with the evolution of the brain in primates, hominids and humans, presenting some interesting ideas about the phylogeny of the human cerebral hemispheres in conjunction with the living conditions of the genera in consideration.Ovaj rad ističe komentar koji je o knjizi belgijskoga paleontologa Charlesa Fraiponta objavljenoj 1931. godine napisao neurolog Constantin von Economo. Komentar je, kako se čini, Economovo posljednje djelo, objavljeno posthumno početkom 1933. godine. Spomenuto djelo bavi se evolucijom mozga u primata, hominida i ljudi, te predstavlja neke zanimljive ideje o razvoju ljudskih moždanih hemisfera u ovisnosti o životnim uvjetima

Opioid receptor-like (ORL1) receptor distribution in the rat central nervous system: Comparison of ORL1 receptor mRNA expression with 125 I-[ 14 Tyr]-orphanin FQ binding

The recently discovered neuropeptide orphanin FQ (OFQ), and its opioid receptor-like (ORL1) receptor, exhibit structural features suggestive of the μ, κ, and δ opioid systems. The anatomic distribution of OFQ immunoreactivity and mRNA expression has been reported recently. In the present analysis, we compare the distribution of orphanin receptor mRNA expression with that of orphanin FQ binding at the ORL1 receptor in the adult rat central nervous system (CNS). By using in vitro receptor autoradiography with 125 I-[ 14 Tyr]-OFQ as the radioligand, orphanin receptor binding was analyzed throughout the rat CNS. Orphanin binding sites were densest in several cortical regions, the anterior olfactory nucleus, lateral septum, ventral forebrain, several hypothalamic nuclei, hippocampal formation, basolateral and medial amygdala, central gray, pontine nuclei, interpeduncular nucleus, substantia nigra, raphe complex, locus coeruleus, vestibular nuclear complex, and the spinal cord. By using in situ hybridization, cells expressing ORL1 mRNA were most numerous throughout multiple cortical regions, the anterior olfactory nucleus, lateral septum, endopiriform nucleus, ventral forebrain, multiple hypothalamic nuclei, nucleus of the lateral olfactory tract, medial amygdala, hippocampal formation, substantia nigra, ventral tegmental area, central gray, raphe complex, locus coeruleus, multiple brainstem motor nuclei, inferior olive, deep cerebellar nuclei, vestibular nuclear complex, nucleus of the solitary tract, reticular formation, dorsal root ganglia, and spinal cord. The diffuse distribution of ORL1 mRNA and binding supports an extensive role for orphanin FQ in a multitude of CNS functions, including motor and balance control, reinforcement and reward, nociception, the stress response, sexual behavior, aggression, and autonomic control of physiologic processes. J. Comp. Neurol. 412:563–605, 1999. © 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/34456/1/2_ftp.pd