functional recovery

Question 1

functional recovery

Answer 1

• braincells damaged/destroyed brain rewires itself over time so the same level of function can be regained
• parts of the brain may be damaged or destroyed as a result of trauma, other parts appear to be able to take over the functions that were lost
• neurones next to damaged areas can form new circuits that resume some of the last function

Question 2

neuronal unmasking - wall 1977 dormant synapses

Answer 2

• synaptic connections that exist but function is blocked
• rate of neuronal input is too low for activation
• increasing input rate can unmask then
• unmasking occurs as input that would normally be directed to damaged areas is directed towards dormant synapses
• connections that arent normally activated are opened creating a lateral spread of activation and development of neuronal pathways

Question 3

functional recovery - stem cells

Answer 3

• could take on characteristics of nerve cells
• could provide treatments for brain damage caused by trauma
• stem cells implanted into the brain directly replace dead or dying cells
• transplanted cells secrete growth factors that rescue injured cells
• transplanted cells form a neural network which links the uninjured brain site with the damaged region of the brain

Question 4

functional recovery - animal studies

Answer 4

• rats with traumatic brain injury assigned to one of two groups
• one group received stem cell transplants into brain injury region
• control group received a solution infused into brain which didnt contain stem cells
• three moths after, stem cell rats showed clear development of neuron-like cells in the area of injury accompanied by a solid stream of stem cells migrating to the brain’s site of injury

Question 5

functional recovery - age differences - Huttenlocher & Elbert

Answer 5

• adults following a brain injury should adopt compensatory strategies
• walking frame/wheelchair
• older people require longer more intensive therapy in order to achieve some recovery

Question 6

functional recovery - age differences - lennenberg

Answer 6

• children who lost language ability due to brain injury before age of puberty recover most or all of the language function
• recover is likely if brain damage occurs before age of 5 years
• brain damage after puberty often followed by only slow and partial recovery of language

Question 7

functional recovery - age differences - marques de le plata et al

Answer 7

• patients older than 40 years regained less function than younger patients
• due to younger brains being more plastic than older brains

Question 8

functional recovery - age differences - schneider et al

Answer 8

• patients with equivalent of college education are seven times more likley than those who didnt finish high school to be disability free one year after a moderate to severe traumatic brain injury
• retrospective study, 769 patients based on data from US traumatic brain injury systems database, 214 patients achieved disability-free recovery after one year
• concluded that ‘cognititve reserve’ could be a factor in neural adaptation during recovery from traumatic brain injury