any time I learn about the brain I hear about the diffrent parts, some of them are clearly just names of parts (like the ventricals in the heart have names)
some parts however sound almost like they are nearly their own organ; the hypocampus and such. (not that they are not connected, like the liver being attached to the intestines, they are still seporate)
are there any parts of the brain that are really ‘seporate’ enough to qualify as organs, and not just areas of the organ the brain? are all parts of the brain connected along most or all surfaces or are some parts connected only by a bundle of nerves? are there any parts that are self contained enough that transplanting that peice would be an easyer act than transplanting the brain? (not easy, but no harder than transplanting an eye, which we can’t do yet, but doesn’t seem out of the range of human ablity)
are all parts of the brain just arbitarily divided, or are there some parts that are physically attached only to a limited degree(to the degree the retena is seporate from the brain)?
Biologically, the brain is an organ. So there aren’t any organs of the brain, per se.
The illustrations on this page shows the parts of the human noodle.
A real brain’s parts are harder to identify. Brains are a grayish pink color and have a few dark veins running throughout the exterior surface. They feel solid but spongy, like a really well-cooked scrambled egg or firm tofu.
The cerebellum stands out because the texture and color are different. The one on the brain I handled was a shade or two darker than the cerebral cortex and the number of folds on it were greater, more densely packed. As you might tell by the first picture, it’s not completely connected to the cortex; it comes off pretty easily.
The corpus callosum lies just below the cerebral cortex, and IIRC was firmer and tougher than the cortex. It also looked different in that it was unwrinkled and smooth. You could identify it easily. Same thing with the brain stem.
The parts of the limbic system were harder to pick out. The amygdala and hippocampus looked to me like random channels and rounded indentations and small protrusions. Again, IIRC, nothing really stood out or resembled a distinct organ or part that we could remove with ease. Without a similar diagram we wouldn’t have been able to identify the parts.
Biologically, an organ is a differentiated part of an organism that performs a specific function. Therefore an eye is an organ. It may have within it further differentiated parts, in order to help it perform its function, like a cornea, lens, iris, or retina. But these are all components of the organ of the eye.
Same way with the brain. Within the dura mater, the brain is contained. Differentiated parts include the cerebrum, the cerebellum, the pons, the medulla, the ventricles, the corpus callosum, etc. They all work both together and separately to perform the brain’s functions. And there is more similarity within the brain than within the eye. (compare lens to retina in the eye. Quite different, but not separate organs).