Saturday, January 14, 2023

Neuroplasticity: Evolving Concept in Neurology

So you still don't know why a neuron gives up its' current task and takes on a neighbors. Until you figure that out, neuroplasticity is not consistently repeatable. So don't let your doctor or therapist tell you neuroplasticity is going to get you recovered until they TELL YOU EXACTLY HOW TO GET IT TO WORK!

 Neuroplasticity: Evolving Concept in Neurology

52 Journal of Clinical Research and Applied Medicine, Vol 2, Issue 3, Jul-Sep, 2022
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www.jcramonline.com

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DOI:

10.5530/jcram.2.3.12

WWW.JCRAMONLINE.COM

E
DITORIAL
Neuroplasticity, also known as neural plasticity or

brain plasticity is the ability of neural networks in the

brain to change through growth and reorganization.
1
These changes range from individual neuron pathways

making new connections, to systematic adjustments like

cortical remapping. The term plasticity was first applied

to behavior in 1890 by William James in
The Principles
of Psychology
.2 The first person to use the term neural
plasticity appears to have been the Polish neuroscientist

Jerzy Kanjorski.
3,4
The human brain is composed of approximately

100 billion neurons. Early researchers believed that

neurogenesis, or the creation of new neurons, stopped

shortly after birth. Today, it’s understood that the brain’s

neuroplasticity allows it to reorganize pathways, create

new connections, and, in some cases, even create new

neurons. There are two main types of neuroplasticity:
5
1.
Functional plasticity: It is the ability of brain
to alter and adapt the functional properties of

neurons. The changes can occur in response to

previous activity (activity-dependent plasticity) to

acquire memory or in response to malfunction

or damage of neurons (maladaptive plasticity) to

compensate a pathological event. In the latter case

the functions from one part of the brain transfer

to another part of the brain based on the demand

to produce recovery of behavioral or physiological

processes.
6
2.
Structural plasticity: It is the brain's ability to
actually
change its physical structure as a result of
learning.
Researchers nowadays use multiple cross-
sectional imaging methods (i.e. magnetic resonance

imaging
(MRI), Computerized Tomography (CT))
to study the structural alterations of the human

brains.
5 This type of neuroplasticity often studies
the effect of various internal or external stimuli on

the brain›s anatomical reorganization
.
The adult brain is not entirely “hard-wired” with fixed

neuronal circuits. There is evidence that neurogenesis

(birth of brain cells) occurs in the adult, rodent brain
-
and such changes can persist well into old age.
7 The
evidence for neurogenesis is mainly restricted to the

hippocampus and olfactory bulb
, but research has
revealed that other parts of the brain, including the

cerebellum, may be involved as well.
1 However, the
degree of rewiring induced by the integration of new

neurons in the established circuits is not known, and

such rewiring may well be functionally redundant.
9
Neuroplasticity is gaining popularity as a theory

that, at least in part, explains improvements in

functional outcomes with physical therapy post-

stroke. Rehabilitation techniques that are supported

by evidence which suggest cortical reorganization as

the mechanism of change include constraint-induced

movement therapy, functional electrical stimulation,

treadmill training with body-weight support, and virtual

reality therapy.

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