Awesome Brain and Spinal Cord Flashcards
What is the difference between a focal neurological defecit and a non-focal problem?
- Focal: affects a specific area of the brain or spinal cord
- Nonfocal: not specific to a certain area of the brain or spinal cord, may include a general loss of consciousness or emotional problem.
Name a condition which is associated with a ‘hyperconnected’ brain (large number of dendritic spines)?
Autism Spectrum Disorder
Name a condition associated with a ‘hypoconnected’ brain (small number of dendritic spines)?
Schizophrenia
Alzheimer’s disease
What is clonus?
Muscular spasm which involves involuntary muscle contractions - results in uncontrollable, rythmic, shaking movements.
What does Hebb’s learning rule refer to?
- Correlated pre and post synaptic activities cause synapse to strenghten/stabilize
- Uncorrelated pre and post synaptic activities cause synapse weakening
What is white matter mostly made up of?
Myelinated axons
What are the three types of white matter fibres?
- Projection
- Association
- Comissural
What do projection fibres connect?
Connect the cortex with the brain stem and spinal cord
What do association fibres connect?
Different regions within the same hemisphere
What do commissural fibres connect?
Same cortical areas in opposite hemispheres
What are the comissural tracts?
Type of white matter tracts that cross the midline, connecting the same cortical area in opposite hemispheres
What is the largest white matter structure in the brain?
Corpus Callosum
What white matter structure connects the eo temporal lobes?
Anterior commissure
What does the anterior comissure play a role in?
- Sensation of sharp pain
- Processing smells, emotion, speech, hearing and memory
Where does the posterior commissure cross the midline?
On the dorsal aspect of the upper end of the cerebral aqueduct
What does the posterior comissure play a role in?
The bilateral pupillary light reflex
What does the habenular comissure connect?
Habenular nuclei on both sides of the diencephalon (sits in front of the pineal gland)
What processes is the habenular nuclei involved in?
Sleep-wake cycles, learning, stress responses, pain processing, and reproductive behaviours
What is the commissural tract in the fornix?
Hippocampal commissure (connects to hippocampi across the midline)
What therapy has showed promise in being able to regain strength to an upper limb after a stroke?
Contralateral constraint
What part of the brain does parkinson’s affect?
Basal ganglia (removes dopamine)
What therapy can be used to treat parkinson’s disease by disrupting the simulation of thalamus inhibition?
Deep brain simulation surgery
What disorders/diseases can be treated with mirror box therapy?
Various unilateral pain and/or motor disorders
- Hemiaparesis after stroke
- Reduced mobility after wrist fracture
- Spastic hemiparetic cerebral palsy
- Phantom limb pain
Why is the CNS prone to disease?
- Neurons are sensitive to lack of O2 (3 mins till death)
- Prone to “degenerative” processes
How many neurons are there in a human?
10^11
How many connections are there in the human body?
10^15
Where does the afferent neuron synapse with the efferent?
The ventral horn
What medicine can be used to “clot-bust” in a stroke?
tPA
What is Nogo-A?
- Important inhibitor over neural sprouting
- Treatment with anti-Nogo can encourage sprouting
What is the basal-ganglia movement feedback pathway?
Basal ganglia deep in brain listen to movement process it and produce a cloud of inhibition in the thalamus, basal ganglia selectively removes areas of the thalamus to allow movements to happen.
What is the subthalamic nucleus?
- Important modulater of basal ganglia output.
- Located ventrally to thalamus - plays fundemental role in circuitry of the basal ganglia.
- Electrodes put here in DBS
