Brain damage and neuroplasticity Flashcards
what are the types of brain injury?
- congenital vs acquired
- traumatic vs non-traumatic
- closed head injury vs open head injury
what is congenital brain injury?
related to genetic factors, prenatal/birth related trauma
what is acquired brain injury?
either traumatic or non-traumatic, road traffic/sports injuries
what is traumatic brain injury?
intracranial injury, specific or widespread, can affect tissue directly or by blood supply
what is non-traumatic brain injury?
result of stroke, infections, tumours, hypoxia/anoxia (lack of O2)
what are the causes of a stroke?
- cerebral heamorrhage: blood leak - aneurism
2. cerebral ischaemia: loss of blood supply - by thrombus/cardiovascular disease
what is a closed head injury?
no penetration of skull
- dementia pugilistica/punch drunk syndrome
- repeated blows to head
what is an open head injury?
skull doesn’t remain intact e.g. Phineas Gage
what are the 2 types of neurodegenerative brain disease?
parkinson’s disease
alzheimer’s disease
PD disease symptoms
very slow movement (bradykinesia), no movements (akinesia), increases muscle tone, resting tremor, impaired balance
PD causes
idiopathic disease (each case has own origins)
- due to lack of dopamine in basal ganglia - loss of cells
- excessive inhibitory output of basal ganglia
PD interventions
- lesion inhibitory output structures
- deep brain stimulation
- replace lost DA cells
what does PD tell us about the brain?
- the basal ganglia and dopamine pathway are involved in movement
- normally can only see using animal models
AD symptoms + how are they assessed?
-memory loss
-deficits in attention
-personality changes
-confusion
-irritability
-anxiety
MMSE assessment: tests of cog function
AD causes
- 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
AD treatment
-cholinesterase inhibitors
what is epilepsy?
chronic medical condition produced by temporary changes in electrical function of brain
-causes seizures: affects awareness, movement, sensation
partial epilepsy
-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
generalised epilepsy
- 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”
how is epilepsy detected?
EEG (electroencephalography): detects synchronised activity of neurons
-during seizure: extensive synchronisation seen
how is epilepsy treated?
- pharmacological
- drugs that target GABA or NA+ channels - dampen down excessive neural firing
- surgery
what is neurodegeneration?
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
what is neural regeneration?
humans can’t do lots
we can regenerate our livers but limited capacity for PNS
what is neural reorganisation?
-after brain damage, our sound maps, visual maps and sensory maps need to be reconfigured
