Neuroanatomy Made Clear: 120+ Hand-Drawn Video Lectures by Dr. Najeeb
The nervous system looks impossible until someone draws it for you, one step at a time. Dr. Najeeb does exactly that: every tract, nucleus and cranial nerve is built on the board in front of you, so you understand it instead of memorising it.
What is neuroanatomy? Neuroanatomy is the study of the structure of the nervous system: the brain, the spinal cord and the nerves, and how their parts are organised and connected. It is the map you need before neurophysiology, neurology and clinical neuroscience make sense.
Watch a free sample lecture: the Maxillary Nerve
See the teaching style before you sign up. In this sample, Dr. Najeeb builds the maxillary nerve and its branches on the board, one step at a time.
Neuroanatomy in five minutes: the big picture
Before any tract or nucleus, the whole subject rests on one simple loop. The body collects information, the brain and spinal cord process it, and a response goes back out. Everything else in neuroanatomy is detail added to that loop.
Two systems, one loop
The central nervous system (CNS) is the brain and spinal cord. It receives sensory input, stores it, compares it with past experience and decides on a motor response. The peripheral nervous system (PNS) is the set of nerves that carries information to the CNS and carries decisions back out to the body.
The sensory side
Sensation comes in two families. Special senses belong to one organ only: vision (eyes), hearing (ears), smell (nose), taste (tongue) and balance (the vestibular system of the inner ear). General sensations can arise almost anywhere. They split into somatic sensations from the skin, joints and muscles (pain, temperature, touch, vibration and proprioception, your sense of where your limbs are) and visceral sensations from the internal organs (dull pain and the feeling of stretch).
The motor side
Motor responses are either voluntary (somatic: you decide to lift your hand) or involuntary (autonomic: heart rate, glands and smooth muscle). The autonomic system has two arms. The sympathetic system prepares you for fight or flight, and the parasympathetic system dominates when you rest and digest.
How the brain is organised
| Region | Other name | What it contains |
|---|---|---|
| Hindbrain | Rhombencephalon | Medulla, pons and cerebellum |
| Midbrain | Mesencephalon | Relay centre between hindbrain and forebrain |
| Forebrain | Prosencephalon | Telencephalon (the outer cerebral hemispheres) and diencephalon (the deeper structures, including the thalamus) |
Gray matter, white matter, nerves and tracts
| Term | What it is | Where you find it |
|---|---|---|
| Gray matter | Collections of nerve cell bodies | Cortex (outer surface of the cerebral hemispheres and cerebellum) and nuclei (deeper clusters) |
| White matter | Collections of axons | Tracts (ascending and descending), commissural fibres such as the corpus callosum, and association fibres |
| Tract | Axons inside the CNS, myelinated by oligodendrocytes | Brain and spinal cord |
| Nerve | Axons outside the CNS, myelinated by Schwann cells | Peripheral nervous system |
One detail catches many students out: in the brain the gray matter sits on the outside and the white matter on the inside, while in the spinal cord it is the other way round. Where tracts cross in the brainstem, gray and white matter mix into a network of small nuclei called the reticular formation.
Why neuroanatomy feels so hard, and how this course fixes it
Most students struggle because they meet hundreds of names before they have a mental picture. This course reverses that order.
- Draw first, name second. Hand-drawn diagrams show where a structure sits and what it connects to before you meet its long name.
- Memory hooks that stick. Dr. Najeeb attaches vivid, often funny stories to dry facts, such as picturing the diencephalon in the centre with telescopes (telencephalon) surrounding it.
- Clinical thinking from the start. Lesions, syndromes and clinical correlates appear alongside anatomy, so you learn why a structure matters.
- Step by step. Each topic is split into short parts, so one concept is finished before the next begins.
- Over 40 years of teaching experience. The explanations come from decades of watching where students get stuck.
What you will be able to do after the course
- Trace a sensory signal from the skin to the cortex, and a motor command from the cortex to a muscle.
- Name and locate the parts of the brainstem, cerebellum, thalamus, hypothalamus and basal nuclei.
- Describe each cranial nerve, its pathway and what happens when it is damaged.
- Explain the cavernous sinus, the ventricles, CSF circulation and the blood-brain barrier.
- Localise spinal cord and brainstem lesions from a patient’s signs.
- Understand the autonomic pathways behind Horner’s syndrome and the head ganglia.
The complete neuroanatomy learning path: all 120 lectures
Every lecture in the neuroanatomy course is listed below in a suggested learning order. Open any section to see its lectures. Sign up to watch them all.
1. Foundations: how the nervous system is built and protected (6 lectures)
Start here. Divisions of the nervous system, how it develops, and the membranes that wrap it.
- Introduction to Neuro-Anatomy Part 1
- Introduction to Neuro-Anatomy Part 2
- Development of Nervous System Part 1
- Development of Nervous System Part 2
- Meninges Part 1
- Meninges Part 2
2. Cavernous sinus, CSF, blood supply and the blood-brain barrier (15 lectures)
The spaces, fluids and vessels that keep the brain alive and protected.
- Anatomy of Cavernous Sinus & Cavernous Sinus Syndrome 1
- Anatomy of Cavernous Sinus & Cavernous Sinus Syndrome 2
- Anatomy of Cavernous Sinus & Cavernous Sinus Syndrome 3
- Anatomy of Cavernous Sinus & Cavernous Sinus Syndrome 4
- Anatomy of Cavernous Sinus & Cavernous Sinus Syndrome 5
- Anatomy of Cavernous Sinus & Cavernous Sinus Syndrome 6
- C.S.F & Ventricular system Part 1
- C.S.F & Ventricular system Part 2
- C.S.F & Ventricular system Part 3
- C.S.F & Ventricular system Part 4
- C.S.F & Ventricular system Part 5
- Blood Supply to Brain Part 1
- Blood Supply to Brain Part 2
- Blood Brain Barrier Part 1
- Blood Brain Barrier Part 2 – Circumventricular Organs
3. Spinal cord and the ascending and descending tracts (14 lectures)
How sensation travels up, how movement commands travel down, and what lesions do.
- Sensory System & Ascending Tracts Part 1
- Sensory System & Ascending Tracts Part 2
- Sensory System & Ascending Tracts Part 3
- Sensory System & Ascending Tracts Part 4
- Motor System & Descending Tracts Part 1
- Motor System & Descending Tracts Part 2
- Motor System & Descending Tracts Part 3
- Upper & Lower Motor Neurons & their Lesions Part 1
- Upper & Lower Motor Neurons & their Lesions Part 2
- Upper & Lower Motor Neurons & their Lesions Part 3
- Spinal Cord & its Lesions Part 1
- Spinal Cord & its Lesions Part 2
- Spinal Cord & its Lesions Part 3
- Brown Sequard Syndrome
4. Brainstem and cerebellum (14 lectures)
The brain's busiest crossroads, plus the centre for coordination and balance.
- Brain Stem (Basic Concepts) Part 1
- Brain Stem (Basic Concepts) Part 2
- Brain Stem (Basic Concepts) Part 3
- Medulla Part 1
- Medulla Part 2
- Medulla Part 3
- Medulla Part 4
- Pons Part 1
- Pons Part 2
- Mid-Brain Part 1
- Mid-Brain Part 2
- Cerebellum Part 1
- Cerebellum Part 2
- Cerebellum Part 3
5. Cranial nerves and their clinical correlates (24 lectures)
Nerve by nerve, with the clinical pictures that make them stick.
- Cranial Nerves (Basic Concepts) Part 1
- Cranial Nerves (Basic Concepts) Part 2
- Oculomotor Nerve and Clinical Correlates Part 1
- Oculomotor Nerve and Clinical Correlates Part 2
- Oculomotor Nerve and Clinical Correlates Part 3
- Oculomotor Nerve and Clinical Correlates Part 4
- Oculomotor Nerve and Clinical Correlates Part 5
- Oculomotor Nerve and Clinical Correlates Part 6
- Trochlear Nerve and its Clinical Correlates Part 1
- Trochlear Nerve and its Clinical Correlates Part 2
- An Introduction to Trigeminal System
- Trigeminal System Part 1
- Trigeminal System Part 2
- Trigeminal System Part 3
- Ophthalmic Nerve (Lacrimal, Frontal & Nasociliary nerves)
- Maxillary Nerve and its Branches
- Nerve supply to Lacrimal Gland Part 1
- Nerve supply to Lacrimal Gland Part 2
- Petrosal Nerves (Greater, Deep & Lesser Petrosal Nerves)
- Abducent Nerve and its Clinical Correlates Part 1
- Abducent Nerve and its Clinical Correlates Part 2
- Facial Nerves Part 1
- Facial Nerves Part 2
- Glossopharyngeal & Vagus Nerves (9th & 10th Nerves)
6. Hearing, balance and vision (12 lectures)
The inner ear, the vestibular system and the visual pathway.
- Inner Ear – Auditory System Part 1
- Inner Ear – Auditory System Part 2
- Inner Ear – Auditory System Part 3
- Inner Ear – Vestibular System Part 1
- Inner Ear – Vestibular System Part 2
- Inner Ear – Vestibular System Part 3
- Vestibular Ocular Reflex Part 1
- Vestibular Ocular Reflex Part 2
- Visual System Part 1
- Visual System Part 2
- Visual System Part 3
- Visual System Part 4
7. Diencephalon, thalamus, hypothalamus and basal nuclei (11 lectures)
The deep structures that relay, regulate and fine-tune.
- Diencephalon Part 1
- Diencephalon Part 2
- Thalamus Part 1
- Thalamus Part 2
- Hypothalamus Part 1
- Hypothalamus Part 2
- Hypothalamus Part 3
- Hypothalamus Part 4
- Basal Nuclei (Basal Ganglia) Part 1
- Basal Nuclei (Basal Ganglia) Part 2
- Basal Nuclei (Basal Ganglia) Part 3
8. Autonomic nervous system and the head ganglia (15 lectures)
Sympathetic and parasympathetic control, Horner's syndrome and the parasympathetic ganglia of the head.
- A.N.S (Epinephrine & Nor-Epinephrine) Part 1
- A.N.S (Epinephrine & Nor-Epinephrine) Part 2
- A.N.S (Epinephrine & Nor-Epinephrine) Part 3
- A.N.S (Epinephrine & Nor-Epinephrine) Part 4
- A.N.S (Epinephrine & Nor-Epinephrine) Part 5
- A.N.S (Epinephrine & Nor-Epinephrine) Part 6
- A.N.S (Epinephrine & Nor-Epinephrine) Part 7
- Anatomy of Oculosympathetic Pathway & Horner’s Syndrome 1
- Anatomy of Oculosympathetic Pathway & Horner’s Syndrome 2
- Ciliary Ganglion and Connections Part 1
- Ciliary Ganglion and Connections Part 2
- Pterygo Palatine Fossa
- Pterygopalatine Ganglion Part 1
- Pterygopalatine Ganglion Part 2
- Otic Ganglion
9. Cerebral cortex, speech and clinical syndromes (9 lectures)
Where it all comes together: the cortex, plus palsies and epilepsy.
- Cerebral Cortex & Speech Part 1
- Cerebral Cortex & Speech Part 2
- Cerebral Cortex & Speech Part 3
- Bulbar & Pseudobulbar Palsy Part 1
- Bulbar & Pseudobulbar Palsy Part 2
- Epilepsy Part 1
- Epilepsy Part 2
- Epilepsy Part 3
- Epilepsy Part 4
Who is this course for?
Medical, dental, nursing and pharmacy students meeting the nervous system for the first time, and students revising for exams who want the concepts to finally click. If neuroanatomy has felt like a wall of names, this is the course to start with.
Keep building your anatomy foundation
Neuroanatomy connects naturally with other subjects in the library. Explore Neuro Anatomy & Neuro Physiology for the physiology side of the same system, Gross Anatomy: Head and Neck for the structures cranial nerves travel through, Embryology for how the nervous system develops, and Eye: Anatomy, Physiology and Ophthalmology for the visual pathway in context.
Neuroanatomy questions, answered
What is neuroanatomy?
Neuroanatomy is the study of the structure of the nervous system: the brain, spinal cord and nerves, how their parts are organised, and how they connect to one another.
What is the difference between the central and peripheral nervous system?
The central nervous system (CNS) is the brain and spinal cord. The peripheral nervous system (PNS) is made of the nerves that carry sensory information to the CNS and motor commands from the CNS back to the body.
What is the difference between gray matter and white matter?
Gray matter is a collection of nerve cell bodies and forms the cortex and the nuclei. White matter is a collection of axons and forms the tracts. In the brain the gray matter lies mostly on the outside; in the spinal cord it lies on the inside.
What is the difference between a nerve and a tract?
A bundle of axons outside the central nervous system is a nerve, and Schwann cells myelinate it. A bundle of axons inside the central nervous system is a tract, and oligodendrocytes myelinate it.
What are the main divisions of the brain?
The brain has three main regions. The hindbrain (rhombencephalon) contains the medulla, pons and cerebellum. The midbrain (mesencephalon) sits above it. The forebrain (prosencephalon) is made of the telencephalon, the cerebral hemispheres on the outside, and the diencephalon, the deeper structures including the thalamus.
How many neuroanatomy lectures does Dr. Najeeb have?
Dr. Najeeb's neuroanatomy course has 120+ video lectures, part of a library of 1000+ video lectures on basic medical sciences and clinical medicine.
Do I need any prior knowledge before starting?
No. The course opens with Introduction to Neuro-Anatomy, which starts from the divisions of the nervous system and builds from there, so you can begin as a first-time learner.
In what order should I watch the neuroanatomy lectures?
Follow the learning path on this page: foundations first, then protection and blood supply, tracts and the spinal cord, the brainstem and cerebellum, cranial nerves, the special senses, the deep brain structures, the autonomic system, and finally the cortex and clinical syndromes.
Are notes available for the neuroanatomy lectures?
Yes. Notes and drawings based on Dr. Najeeb's video lectures are available through the Notes button on this page.
Who are these lectures for?
They are made for medical, dental, nursing and pharmacy students, and for anyone who wants to understand how the nervous system is organised.
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