The Rat Nervous System, 5th Edition

Editors: George Paxinos, Mustafa Steve Kassem

ISBN: 9780443240782

Imprint: Academic Press

Published: August, 2026

Pages: 1060

Hardback

Description

The Rat Nervous System, Fifth Edition is an indispensable guide for researchers and students in neuroscience who are working on the rat and mouse as experimental models. The new edition provides thorough updates throughout, including the latest information in an active field of research on the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system and their unique functions. Readers will learn how to formulate sound hypotheses as well as carry out accurate research models.

Key features

• Adopts standard nomenclature aligned with the Atlas of the Human Brain

• Contains full color throughout

• Provides information that is applicable to other species, including the mouse and human, lending itself to many researchers

Readership

Standard reference book for all labs doing neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, neuropharmacology, behavioral neuroscience, or molecular expression/cloning/neurogenetics in the rat and mouse brain

Table of contents

1. Gene maps and related histogenetic domains in the expanded forebrain—Secondary prosencephalon, diencephalon, and midbrain

2. Neuromeric heterochronic neurogenesis in the rat midbrain, diencephalon, and hypothalamus, as revealed by acetylcholinesterase histochemistry and autoradiographic reports

3. Tangential migration in the telencephalon

4. Peripheral autonomic nervous system

5. Primary afferent projections to the spinal cord

6. Spinal cord: Cyto- and chemoarchitecture

7. Superficial dorsal horn of the spinal cord

8. Ascending and descending pathways of the spinal cord

9. Cerebellum and cerebellar connections

10. Locus coeruleus

11. Oromotor nuclei

12. Hypothalamic supraoptic and paraventricular nuclei

13. Circumventricular organs

14. Thalamus

15. Basal ganglia

16. Globus pallidus external and internal: Telencephalic origin in both rodents and primates

17. Amygdala: Structure and function

18. Organization of the forebrain cholinergic system and its interaction with glia

19. Hippocampal formation

20. Cingulate cortex

21. Insular cortex

22. Isocortex

23. Central autonomic system

24. Somatosensory system

25. Gustatory system

26. Olfactory system

27. Vestibular system

28. Auditory system

29. Visual system

30. Cerebral vascular system

31. Neuroglia

32. Postcodes for the brain and spinal cord: Rules based abbreviations for mammals and birds

About the editors

George Paxinos

George Paxinos has written 62 books on the brain of humans, monkeys, rodents and birds. His first atlas, The Rat Brain in Stereotaxic Coordinates, is the most cited neuroscience publication. His Atlas of the Human Brain received The Award for Excellence in Publishing in Medical Science (Assoc American Publishers, 1997) and The British Medical Association Illustrated Book Award (2016).

Mustafa Steve Kassem

Dr. Mustafa (Steve) Kassem is a Senior Research Fellow at Neuroscience Research Australia and The University of New South Wales. He has authored two brain atlases, Atlas of the Developing Mouse Brain and Chemoarchitectonic Atlas of the Rat Brain. He developed a modification of the Golgi Stain, the Ultra-Rapid-Golgi stain, permitting use on cleared and fixed tissue and has assembled one of the largest online collections of histological material, brainreservoir.neura.edu.au. With Paxinos, Dalton and Smith, he constructed a unified list of CNS terms for humans, monkeys, rodents and birds.