Essay
Version 1
Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed
Functional implications of the prosomeric model
Version 1
: Received: 18 January 2024 / Approved: 18 January 2024 / Online: 19 January 2024 (09:30:03 CET)
A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.
Puelles, L. Functional Implications of the Prosomeric Brain Model. Biomolecules 2024, 14, 331. Puelles, L. Functional Implications of the Prosomeric Brain Model. Biomolecules 2024, 14, 331.
Abstract
Brain models present a viewpoint on the fundamental structural components of the brain and their mutual organization, generally relative to a particular concept of the brain axis. A model may be based on adult brain structure or on developmental morphogenetic aspects. Brain models usually have functional implications, depending on which functional properties derive from the postulated organization. This essay examines the present scenario about brain models, emphasizing the contrast between columnar or other longitudinal models and transverse subdivisional neuromeric models. In each case, the main functional implications and apparent problems are explored and commented. Particular attention is given to the modern molecularly based ‘prosomeric model’, which postulates a set of 20 transverse prosomeres as the developmental units that serve to construct all the cerebral parts and the particular typology of many different neuronal populations within the forebrain and the hindbrain, plus a number of additional spinal cord units. These metameric developmental units (serially repeated, but with unique molecular profiles) confer to this model remarkable functional properties based mainly on its multiplicity and modularity. Many important brain functions can be decomposed into subfunctions attended to by combined sets of neuronal elements derived from different neuromeres. Each neuromere may participate in multiple functions. Most aspects related to creation of precise order in neural connections (axonal navigation and synaptogenesis) and function is due to the influence of neuromeric anteroposterior and dorsoventral positional information. Research on neuromeric functionality aspects is increasing significantly in recent times.
Keywords
Brain models; Columnar model; Neuromeric models; Synthetic model; Prosomeric model; Brain functions; Modularity
Subject
Biology and Life Sciences, Anatomy and Physiology
Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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