Normal and Pathologic Development of the Human Brain and Spinal Cord

This textbook is a contemporary statement of what is known about morphological development of the normal and abnormal human nervous system and puts into perspective the continued importance of changes that occur in the course of fetal development and how these processes may become defective.
With the rapid progress in such modern branches of science as neurochemistry, genetics and molecular biology, this book will be invaluable for researchers working in these fields as well as pediatric neurologists, pathologists and those interested in basic brain research. The clear presentation of a complex subject makes this volume an excellent and appropriate summary text and introduction for students of human neuroembryology and developmental neuropathology, and those who are also involved in developmental molecular genetic research.

This book will prove to be useful on a daily basis to all neuropathologists, general pathologists, and child neurologists as a short review of normal and disturbed brain development. The complexity of the central nervous system (CNS) structures overlaps with the differing times and rates of maturation of those structures. This results in variations in the times of the background of normal and pathologic processes occurring in the CNS over the long term, which extends over the course of several years, but is evident until three years of age, when the changes demonstrating brain maturation are visible by means of light microscopy. With the rapid progress in such modern branches of science as neurochemistry, genetics and molecular biology, this book will also be invaluable for researchers working in these fields. Using young nervous tissue in their studies, they must understand and estimate correctly the formation of the CNS in normal and pathological conditions, otherwise they risk performing their studies on "unknown" tissue. The clear presentation of a complex subject makes this volume an excellent and appropriate summary text and introduction for students of human neuroembryology and developmental neuropathology, and is an insightful review of these topics even for seasoned students, who are also involved in developmental molecular genetic research.