Brain damage and neuroplasticity

Question 1

what are the types of brain injury?

Answer 1

• congenital vs acquired
• traumatic vs non-traumatic
• closed head injury vs open head injury

Question 2

what is congenital brain injury?

Answer 2

related to genetic factors, prenatal/birth related trauma

Question 3

what is acquired brain injury?

Answer 3

either traumatic or non-traumatic, road traffic/sports injuries

Question 4

what is traumatic brain injury?

Answer 4

intracranial injury, specific or widespread, can affect tissue directly or by blood supply

Question 5

what is non-traumatic brain injury?

Answer 5

result of stroke, infections, tumours, hypoxia/anoxia (lack of O2)

Question 6

what are the causes of a stroke?

Answer 6

1. cerebral heamorrhage: blood leak - aneurism

2. cerebral ischaemia: loss of blood supply - by thrombus/cardiovascular disease

Question 7

what is a closed head injury?

Answer 7

no penetration of skull

• dementia pugilistica/punch drunk syndrome
• repeated blows to head

Question 8

what is an open head injury?

Answer 8

skull doesn’t remain intact e.g. Phineas Gage

Question 9

what are the 2 types of neurodegenerative brain disease?

Answer 9

parkinson’s disease

alzheimer’s disease

Question 10

PD disease symptoms

Answer 10

very slow movement (bradykinesia),
no movements (akinesia),
increases muscle tone,
resting tremor,
impaired balance

Question 11

PD causes

Answer 11

idiopathic disease (each case has own origins)

• due to lack of dopamine in basal ganglia - loss of cells
• excessive inhibitory output of basal ganglia

Question 12

PD interventions

Answer 12

• lesion inhibitory output structures
• deep brain stimulation
• replace lost DA cells

Question 13

what does PD tell us about the brain?

Answer 13

• the basal ganglia and dopamine pathway are involved in movement
• normally can only see using animal models

Question 14

AD symptoms + how are they assessed?

Answer 14

-memory loss
-deficits in attention
-personality changes
-confusion
-irritability
-anxiety
MMSE assessment: tests of cog function

Question 15

AD causes

Answer 15

• build up of amyloid protien
• aggregate lumps
• beta amyloid clumps together to form plagues - enzyme cuts up in wrong place
• genetic risk factors= chromosome 21, downs syndrome, excessive E4 allele
• neurofibrillary tangles
• result in loss of acetylcholine

Question 16

AD treatment

Answer 16

-cholinesterase inhibitors

Question 17

what is epilepsy?

Answer 17

chronic medical condition produced by temporary changes in electrical function of brain
-causes seizures: affects awareness, movement, sensation

Question 18

partial epilepsy

Answer 18

-simple partial seizure: localised to specific areas of brain, affects sensory motor
-complex partial seizure: localised to specific areas of brain, effects complex + diverse. associated with inappropriate motor behaviour e.g. running. lasts a few mins. may be absent (impaired consciousness)
Can generalise into secondary generalised seizures

Question 19

generalised epilepsy

Answer 19

• grand mal seizures: can involve whole brain, loss of consciousness, rigid, jerks (tonic-clonic)
• petit mal seizures: whole brain. briefly absent, more common in children, “daydreaming”

Question 20

how is epilepsy detected?

Answer 20

EEG (electroencephalography): detects synchronised activity of neurons
-during seizure: extensive synchronisation seen

Question 21

how is epilepsy treated?

Answer 21

• pharmacological
• drugs that target GABA or NA+ channels - dampen down excessive neural firing
• surgery

Question 22

what is neurodegeneration?

Answer 22

loss of neurons + loss of connections between neurons

• grey matter volume (cell bodies) decreases
• white matter increases as connections are better insulated by myelination
• disease can be cause of neurodegeneration–>necrosis/apoptis

Question 23

what is neural regeneration?

Answer 23

humans can’t do lots

we can regenerate our livers but limited capacity for PNS

Question 24

what is neural reorganisation?

Answer 24

-after brain damage, our sound maps, visual maps and sensory maps need to be reconfigured