Disorders

Question 1

Scales

Answer 1

Glasgow coma scale
Mini mental assessment
ICD-10
DSM-V

Question 2

Parkinson’s disease

Answer 2

-MPTP: drug induced Parkinson’s symptoms, depletion of substantia nigra DA
-Nigrostriatal DA pathway = substantia nigra to striatum
-Post-mortems - <100000 nigral neurons = DA starved striatum
- around 60% of nigral neurons have to be lost with 80% depletion of striatal DA Before the symptoms of PD develop
Hard to treat

Question 3

Parkinson’s treatments: stem cells

Answer 3

-capable of dividing and renewing themselves for long periods through cell division
-unspecialized
-can give rise to specialization cell types under certain physiologic or experimental conditions

Question 4

Other treatments

Answer 4

-MAO inhibitor slows down breakdown of DA
-L-DOPA can lead to eventual dyskinesia so use of DA agonists delay use of L-DOPA, reduce eventual dose of it and reduce motor problems
-Rascol study = DA agonist for as long as possible and then add L-DOPA
-increase dopamine

Question 5

Epilepsy alternative treatment

Answer 5

Vagus nerve stimulation is designed to prevent seizures by sending regular mild pulses of electrical energy to the brain via the vagus nerve. These pulses are supplied by a device like a pacemaker placed under the skin with a wire to the vagus nerve

Vagus nerve is apart of the autonomic NS which controls functions of the body that are not under voluntary control such as heart rate

Epilepsy has been linked to increased glutamate activity

Question 6

Excitoxicity and stroke

Answer 6

• When the brain is injured it releases abnormally large amounts of glutamate, over-stimulating the glutamate receptors on the surface membranes of postsynaptic neurons. This in tum, causes unusually large amounts of calcium to enter the nerve cells. This excess calcium disrupts biochemical processes within the neuron and activates enzymes that produce free radicals.
• Free radicals are structurally unbalanced chemicals capable of destroying other compounds that form the internal structure of neurons.
• Excitotoxicity occurs = neuronal cell death as a result of this increase in glutamate and influx of calcium that results in increased free radicals

Question 7

Stroke treatment

Answer 7

• Thrombolytic drugs = drugs that immediately dissolve the blood dots that cause many strokes, drastically reducing the amount of damage strokes produce. E g. Tissue plasminogen activator (PA)
• Only work if delivered directly into the bloodstream, either through a vein or an artery (intra-arterial) and only if administered within a few hours of the stroke before the oxygen-deprived nerve cells suffer permanent damage.
• The time window for getting the best results from thrombolytic drugs is three hours from the first signs of stroke.
• ‘Time is brain’