Vital organ of the central nervous system, the brain takes its place in the skull, above other nervous structures, always of the brain and always very important for life, such as the diencephalon, the brainstem and the cerebellum.
The brain is made up of two nearly symmetrical elements, called cerebral hemispheres. Each cerebral hemisphere has a distinct superficial cellular layer, called the cerebral cortex, and a deeper cellular component, generically called the subcortical component.
Embryological derivation of the forebrain, the brain presides over the control of emotions and voluntary functions, the control of sensory functions (hearing, smell, sight, touch and taste), the ability to speak and understand language, the faculty of memory, "learning and processing of memories."
Weighing about 1.4 kilograms and containing 100 billion neurons (in the adult human being), the brain is a very complex structure, which can be divided into 4 large regions, which are:
- The brain proper (or telencephalon or simply brain),
- The cerebellum,
- The diencephalon e
- The brain stem.
Gray matter and white matter are the two tissues that make up the central nervous system.
The gray matter is made up of neurons devoid of myelin; the white matter, on the other hand, is made up of neurons with a myelin layer.
