This book is a reprint of an English translation of Cajal's original work, with abundant notes and commentaries by the editor. This text describes Cajal's fundamental contributions to neuroscience, which continue to be important today. It accurately details Cajal's ideas and data, and provides readers with the opportunity to learn what Cajal thought about his research career and the significance of his observations. Excerpts from Tello's memorial lectures also provide a contemporary view of Cajal's work.

The barrel area is a unique specialization of the cerebral cortex, shared by many species of rodents and some marsupials, in which the somatotopic map of the body surface receives direct morphological expression. Here, the homogeneous sheet of layer IV granule cells seen in most mammals is fractured into large archipelagos, each representing one of the larger subdivisions of the contra lateral half-body. Within these larger domains are smaller aggregates of granule cells that contain the concentrated terminations of thalamocortical fibers bear ing messages emanating from constellations of...

This book provides current information about the three areas mentioned in the title: Neuronal Migration and Development, Degenerative Brain Diseases, and Neural Plasticity and Regeneration. The chapters about brain development examine the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which neurons are generated from the ventricular zone in the forebrain and migrate to their destinations in the cerebral cortext. This description of cortical development also includes a discussions of the Cajal-Retzius cell. Another chapter provides insight about the development of another forebrain region, the...