Neuroplasty By Brian Lynn Bentley

Neuroplasty By Brian Lynn Bentley

Bio-Pyschology

Colorado Technical University

Neuroplasty is The ability of the brain to adapt, to create workarounds and short cuts to make up for missing or damaged portions of the brain. It is amazing how the brain can grow new networks and nueral connections till the day we die. Our little brain cells oe neurons compensate for or imjuries ,diseases or birth defects. Our brain adapts for and redesigns its self to accomplish normal tasks, Sometime by retraining but sometimes just natural. Our brain is more less plastic. So our brains are capable of re-engineering themselves. However there are limites based on the amount of damage and which parts are damaged, But overall our brains are pretty hardy.(MedicineNet.n.d.).

So lets bring up an example of how neuroplasty helps us in case of injury. for this example will be a stroke."A stroke allows and provides circumstances that is would allow for axonal sprouting where growth-promoting molecules are heavily made in the little factories. Surrounding the infarction where there is an range or field of cell death. In which the stroke forms a glial scars. And these scars that extends s into the cortex in the rat.".(Goldberg, J. n.d.). Now What is axonal sprouting? It is part of the process of wiring in our brain. which engages the neurons to trigger the growth programming in our brains which will allow an elaborate "growth cone" to extend an axon or axons to form alternative new connections to make up for the damaged areas. and strokes cam induce axonal sprouting.(Johansson, B. B. 2010). so in this example It takes about a month after stroke has happened, Even before axonal sprouting to form patterns of anatomical connections that can be detected anatomically. So even in strokes which can be debilitating fro quite a few the brain is already trying to find work around to adapt to the damage.(Neural Repair Institute. n.d.). Alf Brodal in 1973 wrote these words after he had a stroke;"since the regeneration of the transectioned central axons has never been convincingly observed or demonstrated in higher lifeforms like mammals. It seems likely in most instances that one must resort to the belief or assumption that fibers that remain intact would likely take over for the damages ones."(Johansson, B. B. 2010). a recent perfect example of this from some one semi famous would be "Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. And Gabrielle is making an amazing recovery after a gunshot wound to the brain, doctors say. Her case shows off the brain's capability to restore some functions after substantial injury, a phenomenon called "plasticity" that is helped by rehabilitation. "( Landau, E. 2011). and we notice these things she is talking better though different she is mobile and her brain seemed to have found a work around most of the damage. Mind you this included lots of therapy and retraining learning to use other parts of our body to accomplish everyday tasks but this case is a perfect example of this discussion.

So using this knowledge would help in therapy where i would think that certain therapies could speed up these neural connections and alternatives where the patient sooner or later can maintain a quality of life that is not lousy. And For my example Gabrielle did this with hard work and the brain eventually modified itself where she can cope. And you and me can observe the progress in her public outings since she is a public figure. As well go back and see old news footage of her and compare them before the shooting after the shooting and several years later.

References

Goldberg, J. (n.d.). How does an axon grow? Retrieved from http://genesdev.cshlp.org/content/17/8/941.full

Goldberg, J. L. (2003). How does an axon grow? Genes & Development, (17). doi:10.1101/gad.1062303

Johansson, B. B. (2010). Brain Plasticity and Stroke Rehabilitation. AHA Journal.

Landau, E. (2011, May 5). The brain's amazing potential for recovery - CNN.com. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/05/05/brain.plasticity.giffords/index.html

MedicineNet. (n.d.). Neuroplasticity definition - MedicineNet - Health and Medical Information Produced by Doctors. Retrieved from http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp? articlekey=40362

Neural Repair Institute. (n.d.). Fixing the Central Nervous System. Retrieved from http://www.neuralrepairinstitute.org/poststrokeaxonalsprouti.html