ABSTRACT
Classical neuropathological descriptions of neurotoxic diseases contain several important distinctions essential for the understanding of the mechanisms of neurotoxic illnesses. When neuropathologists describe cerebral edema, a swelling of brain tissue often associated with acute neurotoxic poisoning, the details of the description include how herniation of the brain occurs and the mechanical forces that push the brain tissue around the complex labyrinth of cavities engulfed in an unyielding skull. In the cell body, the endoplasmic reticulum, the Golgi apparatus, the mitochondria, and the lysosome are the most prominent anatomic features. The Golgi apparatus is a biochemically important station where proteins generated by ribosomes are transformed into cell membranes and secretory material. The normal functions of the neuron include protein synthesis, axonal transport, generation and conduction of the action potential, synaptic transmission, and formation and maintenance of the myelin. A power function relates the intensity of the specific sensory stimulus to the rate of firing of single cells.
