Would extra oxygen help even more?

[Guest guest]

From

http://www.ascribe.org/cgi-bin/spew4th.pl?ascribeid=20030402.065524 & time=07%2023

%20PST & year=2003 & public=1

BRAIN CAN REORGANIZE AFTER INJURY AT ANY AGE

CHICAGO, April 2 (AScribe Newswire) -- No matter when the brain is injured

-- early in life, in middle age, or later -- it shows a remarkable ability

to reorganize to help the body recover normal motor functions.

Using high-powered functional magnetic resonance imaging, Dr. Hier,

head of neurology and rehabilitation at the University of Illinois at

Chicago College of Medicine, mapped the changes in the brain's

neurocircuitry in patients who had recovered movement after suffering

damage due to cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis or stroke.

Hier expected to find more extensive reorganization in the brains of

patients with cerebral palsy, which commonly strikes before age 3,

reasoning that the neural networks would have had ample time to reconfigure

to adapt to the disease.

" In fact, patients with all three illnesses showed extensive changes in how

they processed a simple motor movement, " said Hier.

Results of the study were presented today at the meeting of the American

Academy of Neurology in Honolulu.

Hier and Jun Wang, a graduate student in bioengineering, observed the brain

activity in 27 patients who had lost, but regained, the use of their hands.

Pictures were taken with a 3.0 Tesla functional magnetic resonance scanner

as the subjects opened and closed their hands every three seconds.

Brain scans of healthy individuals showed that most neurological activity

controlling hand motion -- about 80 percent -- occurred in the primary

motor cortex, a strip of convoluted tissue at the crown of the head.

In patients with neurological damage, however, nerve firing in the primary

motor cortex was reduced on average to about 60 percent, Hier said. Other

areas of the brain took over the processing of the hand motion, including

neurological networks adjacent to the motor cortex and in the nearby

" helper " motor cortex, which usually handles more complicated tasks, such

as swallowing.

In contrast with normal subjects, increased neurological activity was seen

in the primary motor cortex located in the hemisphere on the same side of

the body as the hand, instead of the hemisphere opposite.

In some patients, the cerebellum, the so-called " little brain, " also

assumed control of hand motion -- nearly total control in one individual,

Hier said. Two peach-sized folds of tissue at the base of the brain, the

cerebellum is typically involved in coordinating movement, receiving

instructions from the motor cortex and feedback from the limbs.

Six patients participating in the study had cerebral palsy, a dysfunction

in the part of the brain that controls body movement and posture, caused by

abnormal growth in brain cells or damage due to infection or insufficient

blood and oxygen supply.

Eleven patients had multiple sclerosis, a deterioration in muscle control

and strength, vision, balance and sensation, caused by inflammation in the

brain and spinal cord and destruction of the sheath that surrounds and

protects nerve fibers. The disease typically strikes between the ages of 20

and 40.

Eight patients between the ages of 50 and 80 had suffered strokes due to

blocked blood vessels in the brain.

Preliminary data revealed no particular pattern determining the

reassignment of neurological networks when the primary motor cortex was

damaged. Nevertheless, the research clearly has implications for

rehabilitation strategies.

" In future studies, we'll analyze whether rehabilitation can influence the

pattern of motor reorganization after brain damage and whether certain

patterns of reorganization produce better patient outcomes, " Hier said.

For more information about the UIC College of Medicine, visit

http://www.uic.edu/depts/mcam/

SUMMARY: No matter when the brain is injured -- early in life, in middle

age, or later -- it shows a remarkable ability to reorganize to help the

body recover normal motor functions, a study at the University of Illinois

at Chicago College of Medicine has shown.