Unit 3: Organization of

Nervous System
Dr. Halley S Thokchom

C-PSY-03 Biopsychology
Aryabhatta College
 ILO

 CNS & PNS:

 Structure and functions
 Neuroplasticity of Brain
 neural degeneration,
 neural regeneration, and
 neural reorganization
The story of Eugnot
 Neuroanatomy Terms

 The neuraxis is an imaginary line drawn through the

spinal cord up to the front of the brain
 Anatomical directions are understood relative to the
neuraxis
 Anterior (rostral): toward the head
 Posterior (caudal): toward the tail
 Dorsal (superior): toward the back (top of head)
 Ventral (inferior): toward the “belly”
 Location in brain:
 Ipsilateral: same side of brain
 Contralateral: opposite side of brain
 Unilateral: one side of brain
 Bilateral: both sides of brain
 Neuroanatomy Terms (cont.)

 Anatomical directions with varying reference

points
 Medial: towards the center (e.g., neuroaxis, midline)
 Lateral: towards the side
 Proximal: close to
 Distal: away from
 Afferent: towards the reference point (e.g., towards
the brain)
 Efferent: away from the reference point (e.g., away
from the brain)

One neuron’s efferent is another neuron’s afferent

Anatomical Directions Are Relative to the Neuraxis
 Planes of Sectioning
 The brain can be sectioned
in three planes
 Each section provides a
different view of the
internal anatomy of the
brain
 Sagittal
 Coronal (or transverse)
 Horizontal
 Major Divisions of the Nervous
System
 Central Nervous System (CNS)
 Brain
 Spinal cord (may be considered an extension of
the brain)
 Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)
 Somatic nervous system (connects to skin &
musculoskeletal system)
—sensory nerves (afferent) and motor nerves
(efferent)
 cranial nerves (12 pair)
 spinal nerves (31 pair)

 Autonomic nervous system (connects to viscera, glands

& blood vessels)
 sympathetic nervous system
 parasympathetic nervous system
 The Meninges
 The brain and spinal cord are protected by a
series of three membranes termed meninges
 Dura mater-outer (thick) layer
 thick, durable membrane, closest to the skull and
vertebrae
 looselyarranged, fibro-elastic layer of cells
 Arachnoid-middle layer
 Cushions the CNS
 Overlies the arachnoid space (CSF)
 Blood vessels run through the arachnoid layer

 Pia mater- inner layer

 Delicate membrane
 Overlies every detail of the outer brain
 adheres to the surface of the brain and spinal cord,
following all of the brain's contours (the gyri and sulci)
 Cerebrospinal Fluid
 Located between arachnoid matter and pia matter
 The brain floats in a pool of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)
which reduces its net weight from 1400 g --> 80 g
 CSF is also contained within four brain ventricles
 CSF is produced by the choroid plexus of each
ventricle (little bellies)
 The brain ventricles are an access point for drug
studies
 The brain ventricles can expand when brain cells are
lost (as in alcoholism or certain diseases)
 CSF is extracted from the blood and resembles blood
plasma in composition
 Ventricular System
and Production of CSF
 brain contains a series of hollow,
interconnected chambers called ventricles
(“little bellies”) which are filled with CSF
 largest chambers are the lateral ventricles,
which are connected to the third ventricle
 third ventricle is located at the midline of
the brain
 bridge of neural tissue called the massa
intermedia crosses through the middle of the
third ventricle
 cerebral aqueduct, a long tube, connects the
third ventricle to the fourth ventricle
 CSF is manufactured by special tissue with an
especially rich blood supply called the
choroid plexus, which protrudes into all four
of the ventricles
 Brain Development
 The nervous system develops from ectoderm (outer
layer) which forms a plate (~day 18)
 The edges of the plate curl and eventually fuse
together forming a neural tube
 By day 28, the rostral end of the neural tube has
formed the ventricles and the tissue that surrounds
these hollow chambers has formed three major
divisions of the brain
Forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain
 Anatomical Subdivisions of the brain
Primary (Major) Divisions
Ventricle Subdivisions Principal Structures
of the neural tube

Cerebral Cortex
Lateral Telencephalon
Prosencephalon Basal Ganglia
(Forebrain) Limbic System
Thalamus
Third Diencephalon
Hypothalamus

Mesencephlon Tectum
Cerebral Aqueduct Mesencephalon
(Midbrain)
Tegmentum

Cerebellum
Rhombencephalon Fourth Metencephalon
(Hindbrain) Pons
Myelencephalon Medulla Oblongata
Brain Development (cont.)
 Forebrain
 Forebrain surrounds the rostral end of the neural tube
 Two major components are
 Telencephalon
 Includes most of the two symmetrical cerebral hemispheres that make up the cerebrum
 Cerebral hemispheres are covered by the cerebral cortex and contains 2 structures (in
the subcortical region of the brain)
 Limbic system
 Basal ganglia

 Diencephalon
 Situated between the telencephalon and mesencephalon
 Surrounds the third ventricle
 Has 2 important structures present
 Thalamus
 Hypothalamus
 Cerebral Cortex

 The cerebral cortex forms the outer surface of the

cerebral hemispheres
 Cortex surface is convoluted by grooves
 Sulci (small grooves)
 Fissures (large grooves)

 The bulges in cortex are termed gyri

 The cortex is primarily composed of cells, giving it a
grey appearance
 The cortex is formed from 6 layers of cells
 Cortex can be divided into 4 lobes: frontal, parietal,
occipital, and temporal
 Cerebral Lobes
 Frontal Lobe
 anterior to the central sulcus & dorsal-medial to the lateral fissure
 includes precentral gyrus (primary motor cortex)
 Parietal Lobe
 posterior to the central sulcus, anterior to the occipital lobe, & dorsal-
medial to the lateral fissure
 includes postcentral gyrus (primary somatosensory cortex)
 Cerebral Lobes (cont.)

 Temporal Lobe
 ventral to the lateral fissure and rostral to the occipital lobe
 includes the primary auditory cortex
 Occipital Cortex
 caudal to the parietal & temporal lobes
 includes the primary visual cortex
 Cerebral Cortex …
 Consists mostly of glia and the cell bodies, dendrites and interconnecting
axons of neurons
 Predomination of cells gives a grayish brown appearance, hence called gray
(grey) matter
 Million of axons runs beneath the cerebral cortex connecting its neurons with
others in the brain
 Large concentration of myelin around these axons gives this tissue an opague white
appearance, hence called white matter
 Different regions of the cerebral cortex perform different functions
 Three regions receive information from the sensory organs
 Primary visual cortex
 Receives visual info; located at the back of the brain, on the inner surfaces of the cerebral
hemispheres

 Primary auditory cortex

 Receives auditory info; located on the upper surface of the lateral fissures

 Primary somatosensory cortex

 Receives info from body senses; receives info about taste
Primary Sensory and Motor Cortex
  Logically placed between the parietal lobes and our frontal lobes (the
executive), are two strips called the somatosensory cortex and the motor
cortex.
 The somatosensory cortex coordinates the sensory data that comes up from
all over the body.
 The motor cortex, coordinates our bodily movements.

general areas of the motor

cortex that correlate with our
Homunculus is proportionate to our sensory cortex's design external body senses
 Limbic System

 The limbic system is comprised

of
 Hippocampus: involved in
learning and memory
 Amygdala: involved in emotion
 Mammillary Bodies
 The fornix is a fiber bundle that
interconnects the hippocampus
with the mammillary bodies
 Basal Ganglia
 The basal ganglia are a collection of subcortical nuclei that
lie just under the anterior aspect of the lateral ventricles
 “Ganglia” is a misnomer (term refers to collections of cell bodies
in periphery)
 Basal ganglia consist of:
 Globus pallidus (pale globe)
Transverse Cut of
 Caudate nucleus (nucleus with a tail)
Brain (Horizontal
 Putamen (shell) Section), basal
ganglia is blue
 Basal ganglia are involved in
the control of movement
 Diencephalon
 2nd major division of the forebrain
 Situated between telencephalon and
mesencephalon
 Surrounds the third ventricle
 Diencephalon consists of
 Thalamus: contains nuclei that receive
sensory information and transmit it to cortex
 Hypothalamus: contains nuclei involved in
integration of species-typical behaviors,
control of the autonomic nervous system and
pituitary
 Thalamus
 makes up the dorsal part of the diencephalon
 has two lobes (connected by a bridge of gray matter called the massa
intermedia)
 Most neural input to the cerebral cortex is received from the thalamus
 thalamus is divided into several nuclei
 neurons in these nuclei then relay the sensory information to specific sensory
projection areas of the cerebral cortex
 E.g. the lateral geniculate nucleus receives information from the eye and sends axons to
the primary visual cortex

 Other thalamic nuclei project to specific regions of the cerebral cortex, but they
do not relay sensory information
 E.g. the ventrolateral nucleus receives information from the cerebellum and projects it to
the primary motor cortex

 these nuclei have widespread projections to all cortical regions

 Hypothalamus
 lies at the base of the brain, under the thalamus
 controls the autonomic nervous system and the endocrine system
 organizes behaviors related to survival of the species—the so-called four F’s of survival
 situated on both sides of the ventral portion of the third ventricle
 a complex structure, containing many nuclei and fiber tracts
 Much of the endocrine system is controlled by hormones produced by cells in the hypothalamus
 hypothalamic hormones are secreted by specialized neurons called neurosecretory cells
 These hormones stimulate the anterior pituitary gland to secrete its hormones
 E.g. gonadotropin-releasing hormone causes the anterior pituitary gland to secrete the gonadotropic
hormones, which play a role in reproductive physiology and behavior
 hypothalamus also produces the hormones of the posterior pituitary gland and controls their secretion
 E.g. oxytocin, which stimulates ejection of milk and uterine contractions at the time of childbirth, and
vasopressin, which regulates urine output by the kidneys
 Midbrain
 midbrain (aka mesencephalon) surrounds the cerebral aqueduct and consists of two major
parts: the tectum and the tegmentum
 Tectum (“roof”)
 located in the dorsal portion of the mesencephalon
 principal structures are the superior colliculi and the inferior colliculi, which appear as four bumps
on the dorsal surface of the brain stem (includes the mid brain and hind brain)
 Tegmentum (“covering”)
 consists of the portion of the mesencephalon beneath the tectum
 includes the rostral end of the reticular formation, several nuclei controlling eye movements, the
periaqueductal gray matter, the red nucleus, the substantia nigra, and the ventral tegmental area.
 reticular formation is a large structure consisting of many nuclei (over ninety in all).
 characterized by a diffuse, interconnected network of neurons with complex dendritic and axonal processes
 receives sensory information by means of various pathways and projects axons to the cerebral cortex,
thalamus, and spinal cord
 plays a role in sleep and arousal, attention, muscle tonus, movement, and various vital reflexes
 Hindbrain

 Hindbrain surrounds
the fourth ventricle
 consists of two major
divisions:
 metencephalon
 Pons
 cerebellum

 Myelencephalon
 Medulla oblongata
 Metencephalon
 consists of the pons and the cerebellum
 Cerebellum (“little brain”)
 with its two hemispheres, resembles a miniature version of the cerebrum
 covered by the cerebellar cortex and has a set of deep cerebellar nuclei
 each hemisphere of the cerebellum is attached to the dorsal surface of the pons
 Damage to the cerebellum impairs standing, walking, or performance of coordinated movements
 receives visual, auditory, vestibular, and somatosensory information
 receives information about individual muscle movements being directed by the brain
 cerebellum integrates this information and modifies the motor outflow, exerting a coordinating and smoothing
effect on the movements
 Cerebellar damage results in jerky, poorly coordinated, exaggerated movements; extensive cerebellar damage
makes it impossible even to stand
 Pons (“bridge”)
 large bulge in the brain stem, lies between the mesencephalon and medulla oblongata, immediately ventral to the
cerebellum
 contains, in its core, a portion of the reticular formation, including some nuclei that appear to be important in
sleep and arousal
 also contains a large nucleus that relays information from the cerebral cortex to the cerebellum.
 Myelencephalon
 contains one major structure, the medulla
oblongata (literally, “oblong marrow”)
 usually just called the medulla
 the most caudal portion of the brain stem
 its lower border is the rostral end of the spinal
cord
 contains part of the reticular formation, including
nuclei that control vital functions such as
regulation of the cardiovascular system,
respiration, and skeletal muscle tonus
 cannot have a non-functioning medulla
 also acts as a protective system that eliminates
things that don’t belong (sneezing/coughing) in
your body
 medulla (supposedly) can be
influenced/controlled through meditation
 Spinal Cord
 principal function is
 to distribute motor fibers to the effector organs of the body (glands
and muscles) and
 to collect somatosensory information to be passed on to the brain
 has a certain degree of autonomy from the brain
 reflexive control circuits are located here
 protected by the vertebral column
 composed of twenty-four individual vertebrae of the cervical (neck),
thoracic (chest), and lumbar (lower back) regions and the fused
vertebrae that make up the sacral and coccygeal portions of the
column (located in the pelvic region)
 spinal cord passes through a hole in each of the vertebrae (the
spinal foramens)
 spinal cord is only about two-thirds as long as the vertebral
column
 rest of the space is filled by a mass of spinal roots composing the
cauda equina (“horse’s tail”).

Ventral View of the Spinal Column

 Spinal Cord

 Small bundles of fibers emerge from each

side of the spinal cord in two straight lines
along its dorsolateral and ventrolateral
surfaces
 Groups of these bundles fuse together and
become the thirty-one paired sets of dorsal
roots and ventral roots
 The dorsal and ventral roots join together
as they pass through the intervertebral
foramens and become spinal nerves
 Like the brain, the spinal cord consists of
white matter and gray matter
 Unlike the brain’s, the spinal cord’s white
matter (consisting of ascending and
descending bundles of myelinated axons) is Ventral View of the Spinal Cord
on the outside; the gray matter (mostly The figure shows (a) a portion of the spinal cord,
neural cell bodies and short, unmyelinated showing the layers of the meninges and the relationship
axons) is on the inside of the spinal cord to the vertebral column; and (b) a
cross section through the spinal cord. Ascending tracts
are shown in blue; descending tracts are shown in red.
 Peripheral Nervous System
 brain and spinal cord communicate with the rest of the body via the cranial
nerves and spinal nerves
 these nerves are part of the peripheral nervous system, which conveys sensory
information to the central nervous system and conveys messages from the central
nervous system to the body’s muscles and glands.
 Spinal Nerves
 begin at the junction of the dorsal and ventral roots of the spinal cord
 spinal nerves often follow blood vessels
 incoming axons are referred to as afferent axons because they “bear toward” the
CNS
 neurons are of the unipolar type
 axons that leave the spinal cord through the ventral roots control muscles and
glands
 referred to as efferent axons because they “bear away from” the CNS
Peripheral Nervous System
 Cranial Nerves
 Twelve pairs of cranial nerves are
attached to the ventral surface of the
brain
 Most of these nerves serve sensory and
motor functions of the head and neck
region
 the tenth, or vagus nerve, regulates the
functions of organs in the thoracic and
abdominal cavities
 It is called the vagus (“wandering”) nerve
because its branches wander throughout
the thoracic and abdominal cavities. (The
word vagabond has the same root.
A Cross Section of the Spinal Cord
 cell bodies of sensory nerve fibers that The figure shows the routes taken by afferent and
enter the brain and spinal cord (except efferent axons through the dorsal and ventral roots.
for the visual system) are located outside
the central nervous system
 Autonomic Nervous System (ANS)
 part of the peripheral nervous system which
receives sensory information from the sensory
organs and that controls movements of the skeletal
muscles—is called the somatic nervous system
 autonomic nervous system (ANS) is other branch of
the peripheral nervous system
 is concerned with regulation of smooth muscle,
cardiac muscle, and glands
 Autonomic means “self-governing.”
 ANS consists of two anatomically separate systems:
the sympathetic division and the parasympathetic
division
 organs of the body are innervated by both of these
subdivisions, and each has a different effect
 e.g. the sympathetic division speeds the heart rate,
whereas the parasympathetic division slows it
 Division of the ANS
 Sympathetic ANS
 most involved in activities associated with expenditure of energy from reserves that are stored in the body
 For example, when an organism is excited, the sympathetic nervous system increases blood flow to skeletal muscles,
stimulates the secretion of epinephrine (resulting in increased heart rate and a rise in blood sugar level), and causes
piloerection (erection of fur in mammals that have it and production of “goose bumps” in humans).
 cell bodies of sympathetic motor neurons are located in the gray matter of the thoracic and lumbar regions
of the spinal cord (also known as the thoracolumbar system)
 Parasympathetic ANS
 supports activities that are involved with increases in the body’s supply of stored energy
 E.g. salivation, gastric and intestinal motility, secretion of digestive juices, and increased blood flow to the
gastrointestinal system.
 Cell bodies that give rise to preganglionic axons in the parasympathetic nervous system are located in two
regions: the nuclei of some of the cranial nerves and the intermediate horn of the gray matter in the sacral
region of the spinal cord (aka the craniosacral system)
Major Divisions of the Peripheral
Nervous System
 Neuroplasticity of Brain
 Brain damage can cause neuropsychological disorders
 Neuroplastic Responses to Nervous System Damage:
 Neural Degeneration
 Neural Regeneration
 Neural Reorganization
Neural Degeneration
 aka neural deterioration
 common component of both
brain development and disease
 controlled study of neural
degeneration is done by cutting
the axons of neurons
 Two kinds of neural
degeneration can happen
 Anterograde degeneration is the
degeneration of the distal
segment - the segment of a cut
axon between the cut and the
synaptic terminals
 Retrograde degeneration is the
degeneration of the proximal
segment - the segment of a cut
axon between the cut and the
cell body
 Anterograde degeneration
 occurs quickly following axotomy, because the cut separates the distal segment of the axon from the cell body, which is
the metabolic center of the neuron
 entire distal segment becomes badly swollen within a few hours, and it breaks into fragments within a few days
 Retrograde degeneration
 progresses gradually back from the cut to the cell body
 major changes become apparent in the cell bodies of most axotomized neurons in 2 to 3 days
 These early cell body changes are either degenerative or regenerative in nature
 Early degenerative changes to the cell body (e.g., a decrease in size) suggest that the neuron will ultimately die usually by apoptosis
but sometimes by necrosis or a combination of both
 Early regenerative changes (e.g., an increase in size) indicate that the cell body is involved in a massive synthesis of the proteins that
will be used to replace the degenerated axon
 does not guarantee the long-term survival of the neuron

 Absolutely necessary to make synaptic contact with an appropriate target, for survival

 Transneuronal degeneration
 When degeneration spreads from damaged neurons to neurons that are linked to them by synapses
 anterograde transneuronal degeneration: transneuronal degeneration spreads from damaged neurons to the neurons on which they
synapse
 retrograde transneuronal degeneration: transneuronal degeneration spreads from damaged neurons to the neurons that synapse on
them
 Neural Regeneration
 the regrowth of damaged neurons
 relatively successful in most invertebrates and lower vertebrates than in mammals and other higher
vertebrates
 is virtually non-existent in the CNS of adult mammals, and is at best a hit-or-miss affair in the PNS.
 In the mammalian PNS, regrowth from the proximal stump of a damaged nerve usually begins 2 or 3
days after axonal damage

What happens next depends on the

nature of the injury

First, if the original Schwann cell myelin

sheaths remain intact, the regenerating
peripheral axons grow through them to
their original targets at a rate of a few
millimeters per day
Second, if the peripheral nerve is severed and
the cut ends become separated by a few
millimeters, regenerating axon tips often grow
into incorrect sheaths and are guided by them to
incorrect destinations
that is why it is often difficult to regain the
coordinated use of a limb affected by nerve
damage even if there has been substantial
regeneration

And Third, if the cut ends of a severed mammalian

peripheral nerve become widely separated or if a
lengthy section of the nerve is damaged, there may
be no meaningful regeneration at all
regenerating axon tips grow in a tangled mass
around the proximal stump, and the neurons
ultimately die
 Why do mammalian PNS neurons sometimes regenerate, but mammalian CNS neurons do not?
 Obvious Answer is that “PNS neurons are inherently capable of regeneration, whereas CNS neurons are
not”, which is now refuted.
 Because, some CNS neurons are capable of regeneration if they are transplanted to the PNS, whereas some
PNS neurons are not capable of regeneration if they are transplanted to the CNS.
 there is something about the environment of the PNS that promotes regeneration and something about the
environment of the CNS that does not
 Schwann cells seem to be the key
 Schwann cells, which myelinate PNS axons, clear the debris resulting from neural degeneration and
promote regeneration in the mammalian PNS by producing both neurotrophic factors and cell-adhesion
molecules (CAMs)
 neurotrophic factors stimulate the growth of new axons, and the cell-adhesion molecules mark the paths
along which regenerating PNS axons grow
 In contrast, oligodendroglia, which myelinate CNS axons, do not clear debris or stimulate or guide
regeneration; indeed, they release factors that actively block regeneration
 Furthermore, oligodendroglia tend to survive for long periods of time (e.g., months) after nerve damage,
thus chronically inhibiting regeneration of the axons
 When an axon degenerates, axon
branches grow out from adjacent
healthy axons and synapse at the sites
vacated by the degenerating axon; this
is called collateral sprouting
 Collateral sprouts may grow out from
the axon terminal branches or the nodes
of Ranvier on adjacent neurons
 Neural Re-organization
 adult mammalian brains have the ability to reorganize themselves in response to experience and in
response to damage
 Cortical Reorganization Following Damage in Laboratory Animals
 The damage-induced reorganization of the primary sensory and motor cortex has been studied under
two conditions: following damage to peripheral nerves and following damage to the cortical areas
themselves
 Kaas and colleagues (1990) assessed the effect of making a small lesion in one retina and removing the
other. Several months after the retinal lesion was made, primary visual cortex neurons that originally
had receptive fields in the lesioned area of the retina were found to have receptive fields in the area of
the retina next to the lesion; remarkably, this change began within minutes of the lesion (Gilbert &
Wiesel, 1992).
 Pons and colleagues (1991) mapped the primary somatosensory cortex of monkeys whose contralateral
arm sensory neurons had been cut 10 years before. They found that the cortical face representation
had systematically expanded into the original arm area. This study created a stir because the scale of
the reorganization was far greater than had been assumed to be possible: The primary somatosensory
cortex face area had expanded its border by well over a centimeter, likely as a consequence of the
particularly long (10-year) interval between surgery and testing
 Sanes, Suner, and Donoghue (1990) transected the motor neurons
that controlled the muscles of rats vibrissae (whiskers). A few weeks
later, stimulation of the area of motor cortex that had previously
elicited vibrissae movement now activated other muscles of the
face.
 Cortical Reorganization Following Damage in Humans
 research has used brain-imaging technology to study the cortices of blind
individuals
 findings are consistent with the hypothesis that there is continuous competition
for cortical space by functional circuits
 Without visual input to the cortex, there is an expansion of auditory and
somatosensory cortex, and auditory and somatosensory input is processed in
formerly visual areas
 There seems to be a functional consequence to this reorganization
 Blind volunteers have demonstrated skills superior to those of sighted controls on a
variety of auditory and somatosensory tasks (Gougoux et al., 2005).
 Mechanisms of Neural
Reorganization
 Two kinds of mechanisms have been proposed to account
for the reorganization of neural circuits
 a strengthening of existing connections, possibly through
release from inhibition
 reorganization often occurs too quickly to be explained by neural
growth
 rapid reorganization never involves changes of more than 2
millimeters of cortical surface

 the establishment of new connections by collateral sprouting

 magnitude of longterm reorganization can be too great to be
explained by changes in existing connections

 neural degeneration, adjustment of dendritic trees, and

adult neurogenesis may all be involved
 cortical reorganization following damage is not necessarily
mediated by changes to the cortex itself: Changes to the
cortex can be produced by adjustments to subcortical
structures, such as the thalamus
Recovery of Function after Brain Damage
 is a poorly understood phenomenon due to its complexity and other compensatory changes that can easily be
confused with it
 For example:
 any improvement in the week or two after damage could reflect a decline in cerebral edema (brain swelling)
rather than a recovery from the neural damage itself and any gradual improvement in the months after
damage could reflect the learning of new cognitive and behavioral strategies (i.e., substitution of functions)
rather than the return of lost functions (Wilson, 1998)
 Cognitive reserve (roughly equivalent to education and intelligence) is thought to play a role in the
improvements observed after brain damage that do not result from true recovery of brain function
 neuroplastic changes to undamaged circuits have been shown to contribute to recovery after CNS damage
(Nishimura et al., 2007) for example, mice that have had their spinal cords transected often recover some
motor control in the absence of any neural regrowth across the cut (Courtine et al., 2008).
 adult neurogenesis might contribute to recovery from brain damage
 Evidenced by the finding that stem cells tend to migrate short distances into areas of brain damage in adult laboratory
animals (Zhou et al., 2003)
 Neuroplasticity and the Treatment of Nervous
System Damage
 Reducing Brain Damage by Blocking Neurodegeneration
 Estrogens (a class of steroid hormones released the ovaries aka female gonads) have been shown to limit or delay neuron
death in animal models
 may explain why several brain disorders (e.g., Parkinson's disease) are more prevalent in males than in females.
 molecules that limit neural degeneration also promote regeneration
 Promoting Recovery from CNS Damage by Promoting Regeneration
 Transplanting cells that may help in regeneration
 Promoting Recovery from CNS Damage by Neurotransplantation
 transplanting fetal tissue into the damaged area;
 transplanting cultures of stem cells.
 embryonic stem cells are multipotent (have the capacity to develop into many types of mature cells).

 Promoting Recovery from CNS Damage by Rehabilitative Training

 Based on hypothesis that neurons seem to be in a competitive situation
 Use of “constraint-induced therapy”
 Cognitive and Physical Exercise
 Phantom Limbs
 Most amputees continue to experience the limbs that
have been amputated a condition referred to as phantom
limb
 product of neuroplasticity
 most striking feature of phantom limbs is their reality
 existence is so compelling that a patient may try to jump
out of bed onto a nonexistent leg or to lift a cup with a
nonexistent hand
 In most cases, the amputated limb behaves like a normal
limb; for example, as an amputee walks, a phantom arm
seems to swing back and forth in perfect coordination
with the intact arm
 However, sometimes an amputee feels that the
amputated limb is stuck in a peculiar position. For
example, one amputee felt that his phantom arm
extended straight out from the shoulder, and as a The places on Tom s body where touches
result,he turned sideways whenever he passed through elicited sensations in his phantom hand.
doorways (Melzack, 1992) (Based on Ramachandran & Blakeslee, 1998