The Stanley Cup of Neuroscience

The brain of famous amnesic patient H.M. is being sectioned right now!



Watch it live at The Brain Observatory.

They are currently cutting the frontal lobe.

UPDATE (Dec. 3, 1:40PM): They've entered the temporal lobes.

UPDATE (Dec. 4, 1:35PM): Primary visual cortex has surfaced. The end is in sight!

UPDATE (Dec. 4, 11:11PM): They're almost finished!


Below is an MRI of H.M.'s brain when he was still alive.


Figure 1 (Corkin, 2002). Multiplanar views of 18 averaged T1-weighted MRI volumes showing preserved structures in H.M.’s MTL. This magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan was obtained on 15 December 1998. The images are based on data averaged over 18 runs; images were motion corrected using the first scan (out of the 18 axials) as a reference. The asterisk marks the intersection of the three viewing planes, just caudal to the left medial temporal lobe (MTL) resection, seen best in the transaxial view. Top left, sagittal view; bottom left, coronal view; bottom right, transaxial view; top right, surface rendering showing locations of transaxial and coronal planes. Abbreviations: CS, collateral sulcus; EC, entorhinal cortex; H, hippocampus; L, left; PH, parahippocampal gyrus; R, right.


Coda (from Corkin, 2002):

Prospects

H.M. is now 75 years old. His mobility is markedly reduced because of osteoporosis, another side effect of phenytoin (Dilantin). Although he is in relatively good health, plans are in place for the post-mortem examination of his brain when he dies. He and his court-appointed conservator have both signed his brain donation form, ensuring that the final chapter in his lifelong contribution to science will include a precise description of his brain and documentation of his lesion. His wish to help other people will have been fulfilled. Sadly, however, he will remain unaware of his fame and of the impact that his participation in research has had on scientific and medical communities internationally.

An impact he could never appreciate: Henry G. Molaison died a year ago today on Dec. 2, 2008 at the age of 82.