Neuroscience vs Neurology: What is the difference?

By Dr. Priyom Bose, Ph.D.Reviewed by Lily Ramsey, LLM

Neuroscience is a general term that encompasses the study of the structure and function of the nervous system, and neurology is the medical science that deals with disorders of the nervous system.^1,2

Neuroscience is a research-based approach associated with the nervous system, and neurology is involved in the clinical diagnosis and treatment of neural disorders.

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Neuroscience: Concept and Scope

Neuroscience is defined as the science of the brain and the nervous system. The nervous system is divided into the central nervous system (CNS), which includes the brain and the spinal cord, and the peripheral nervous system (PNS), associated with the networks of sensory and motor nerve cells, called neurons, throughout the body.³

The main aim of neuroscience research is to understand how the nervous system works to produce and control behavior, emotion, and thoughts. This field of science embraces experiments to evaluate how molecules, neural networks, brain structure, and nerve cells interact independently or collectively during different activities.⁴

Neuroscientists investigate the process of brain cell signaling and how a typical nervous system develops and functions. Furthermore, they also study the evolution of the brain and how cells develop and differentiate themselves into auditory or visual brain cells.⁵

The scope of neuroscience can be explained through the example of eye movement and signals that are generated while reading a book.⁶

Neuroscientists investigate how the brain signals the eye muscles to keep track of the line of text a person is reading. Simultaneously, the eyes change the words into signals that travel across the neurons to the brain, where the meaning of the words is decoded.

Next, the brain utilizes stored information to give relevant meaning to the word in a sentence that the person is reading, and the entire process occurs instantly.

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Major Branches of Neuroscience

Neuroscience research has been classified into many branches and some that do not overlap with neurology, including the following:¹

• Affective neuroscience: Research on how neurons behave in response to emotions.
• Cognitive neuroscience: Research on brain formation, and neural determinants that control thought process.
• Clinical neuroscience: Research on disorders of the nervous systems, and finding preventive and treatment interventions.
• Computational neuroscience: Research to understand how the brain computes. Here, computers are used to simulate and model brain functions.
• Psychological and psychiatric disorders: Research to identify specific areas of the brain where more changes in neurons occur along with extensive neuroendocrine and neurotransmitter activities due to depression and anxiety.
• Behavioral neuroscience: Evaluating how the brain affects behavior. Scientists investigate the process by which the CNS translates biologically relevant stimuli into natural behavior, memory, and learning.
• Developmental neuroscience: Researchers study how the nervous system and the brain grows and changes, from conception to adulthood. These studies focus on how neurological systems develop and evolve. Furthermore, neuroscientists examine cell transformation and migration to their roles in the nervous system.
• Molecular and cellular neuroscience: Investigate how individual genes, molecules, and proteins are associated with neural functions. Molecular neuroscientists focus on identifying the genetics of neuronal development and the molecular determinants of neuroplasticity and neurodegenerative disease.
• Addiction: Neuroscientists conduct experiments to understand neural circuits that regulate addiction. Human brain imaging reveals the changes in the brain that occur due to addiction.
• Autism: Researchers focus on identifying the neurodevelopmental factors (e.g., genetic, brain development, and brain networks) that contribute to autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
• Sleep: Research that focuses on the association between sleep and wake-promoting neurons to develop a treatment for sleep and circadian disorders. It also focuses on uncovering the genetic and behavioral factors that regulate sleep.

Neurology: Concept and scope

The term neurology is derived from “neuron," meaning nerve, and "logia," meaning "the study of."² This branch of medical science deals with the structure, function, and disorders of the nervous system. 

Similar to neuroscience, neurology is also involved with the study of the CNS, PNS, and the autonomous nervous systems.

The human brain is composed of more than a hundred billion neurons that generate, receive, and transmit impulses. Due to the complexities of the nervous system, there are hundreds of different neurological disorders that affect populations worldwide.⁷

Neurologists study structural and functional disorders of the nervous system that occur at birth and old age.⁸

Some of the common neurological conditions include meningitis, autism, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, sleep disorders, migraines, peripheral nerve disease, and brain tumors.

Neurologists identified dopamine deficiency (neurotransmitter) as one of the key contributing factors involved with the incidence of Parkinson's disease that manifests tremors and muscle rigidity.

They diagnose a neurological disorder by analyzing neuroimages, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) scans.

Neurologists also use an electroencephalogram (EEG) to examine the electrical activity of the brain and diagnose conditions such as epilepsy. Infections in the nervous systems are determined by investigating the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), which is a clear fluid surrounding the brain and spinal cord.

Key areas of neurology research

The key areas of neurology research include the following:

• Neurodegenerative neurology: Research that focuses on various aspects of neurodegenerative diseases, for example, identification of elements that shed light on disease progression, early diagnosis, and effective treatments.
• Cerebrovascular neurology: Clinical research to understand strokes and brain and blood vessel conditions and to develop improved and innovative treatments.
• Children and adolescent neurology: Neurologists are trained to treat infants, children, and adolescents for speech conditions, sleep disorders, and mental health conditions, as well as perform nervous system surgery.
• Epilepsy: Research that focuses on how epileptic seizures start, spread, and stop. Investigation of how anti-epileptic medications and electrical stimulation work on brain cells to prevent seizures.
• Movement disorders: Neurologists conduct research on diseases, including Parkinson's disease, to identify the cause and formulate strategies to improve symptoms and delay disease progression.
• Spinal cord disorders: Research focuses on developing new minimally invasive surgical techniques and advanced imaging using robotics and regenerative medicine to diagnose and treat spinal cord disorders.
• Neuromuscular diseases: Research to develop diagnostics and treatment for many complicated muscular diseases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, peripheral neuropathies, and myasthenia gravis.
• Neuro-oncology: Research on identifying new therapeutic agents and developing innovative gene therapies to kill cancer cells or to inhibit the specific signal transduction pathways that control tumor growth.

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Conclusions

Both neuroscience and neurology are engaged to study a wide range of diseases and conditions, such as Down syndrome, schizophrenia, autistic spectrum disorders (ASD), addiction, brain tumors, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, stroke, and immune system disorders (e.g., multiple sclerosis).

Identification of underlying mechanisms of anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder will help develop effective treatments. The cross-talk between these fields enables the determination of neurobiological factors for disease diagnosis and develop therapeutic interventions to treat or prevent the incidence of neurological diseases.

 References

1. Brazier Y. What is neuroscience? MedicalNewsToday. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/2486802023. 2018; Assessed on August 28, 2024.
2. Mandal A. What is Neurology? News-Medical. https://www.news-medical.net/health/What-is-Neurology.aspx.2023; Assessed on August 28, 2024.
3. Thau L, et al. Anatomy, Central Nervous System.StatPearls. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK542179/. 2022; Assessed on August 28, 2024.
4. Bassett DS, Sporns O. Network neuroscience. Nat Neurosci. 2017 Feb 23;20(3):353-364. doi: 10.1038/nn.4502.
5. Ackerman S. Discovering the Brain. National Academies Press (US. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK234146/. 1992; Assessed on August 28, 2024.
6. Lavazza A. Free Will and Neuroscience: From Explaining Freedom Away to New Ways of Operationalizing and Measuring It. Front Hum Neurosci. 2016; 10, 197548. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2016.00262
7. GBD 2016 Neurology Collaborators. Global, regional, and national burden of neurological disorders, 1990-2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. Lancet Neurol. 2019;18(5):459-480. doi: 10.1016/S1474-4422(18)30499-X.
8. Fobian AD, Elliott L. A review of functional neurological symptom disorder etiology and the integrated etiological summary model. J Psychiatry Neurosci. 2019;44(1):8-18. doi: 10.1503/jpn.170190.

Further Reading

• All Neuroscience Content