Neuromorphology

Neuromorphology (from Greek νεῦρον, neuron, "nerve"; μορφή, morphé, "form"; -λογία, -logia, “study of”) is the study of nervous system form, shape, and structure. The study involves looking at a particular part of the nervous system from a molecular and cellular level and connecting it to a physiological and anatomical point of view. The field also explores the communications and interactions within and between each specialized section of the nervous system. Morphology is distinct from morphogenesis. Morphology is the study of the shape and structure of biological organisms, while morphogenesis is the study of the biological development of the shape and structure of organisms. Therefore, neuromorphology focuses on the specifics of the structure of the nervous system and not the process by which the structure was developed. Neuromorphology and morphogenesis, while two different entities, are nonetheless closely linked.

Progress in defining the morphology of nerve cells has been slow in its development. It took nearly a century after the acceptance of the cell as the basic unit of life before researchers could agree upon the shape of a neuron. It was originally thought to be an independent globular suspended along nerve fibers that looped and coiled. It was not until the first successful microdissection of a whole nerve cell by Otto Deiters in 1865 that the separate dendrites and axon could be distinguished. At the end of the 19th century, new techniques, such as Golgi's method, were developed that enabled researchers to view the whole neuron. This Golgi investigation then promoted new research in neuronal spacing by Ramon y Cajal in 1911. Further morphology research continued to develop, including dendritic morphology. In 1983 Thoroya Abdel-Maguid and David Bowsher expanded upon the golgi method and combined it with an impregnation technique which allowed them to visualize the dendrites of neurons and classify them based on their dendritic patterns. Since then, myriad techniques have been developed and applied to the field of neuromorphology.

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