Brain Plasticity Essay

Neuroplasticity is the brain’s capability to adjust, and restructure in order to adjust to emerging conditions. Indeed, the idea of neuroplasticity is due to the fact that the neural networks are not fixed but rather appear and disappear based on the whole life experiences. Practical examples such as calculation of a mathematical problem indicate that neurons continue to be formed due to the experience one gain after severally attempting the calculation. The brain functions under the principle of use it or loses it especially when the brain is being used for memory. Thus, neuroplasticity leads to a number of occurrences including sensitivity in the phantom limb and recovery from brain injuries such as stroke (Taupin 2012). Brain Plasticity The various synaptic connections that are in the brain depends on the continuous sensory input which when removed the brain has to adjust the connectivity between the neurons.

The plasticity leads to motor recovery once the brain is damaged through an adaptive manner while still, it is essential in acquiring new skills, especially when seeking to compensate for the function which is lost, (Dayan and Cohen, 2011). Nonetheless, plasticity is not always positive but can result in maladaptation which often leads to worsened results. In certain cases like limb amputation, the sensory input may lack in the cerebral cortex resulting in the restructuring of the working of the brain which leads to phantom limb syndrome. This is a condition which is characterized by a sensation that the limb which is missing is still part of the body. Stem Cells The condition of stroke has for a long time been strange and has resulted in many patients dying.

The concept of stem cells and their ability to differentiate cells in organs has been researched and found to occur even in hematopoietic cells such as the neuronal tissue. The new evidence shows that stem cells differentiation could be important in helping to cure certain degenerative diseases within the nervous system such as stroke. Diseases such as Parkinson's disease occur due to less selective degeneration of the nerves which results in functional impairment. Most research indicates that non-neural stem cells can also differentiate to neuronal in vitro especially for the marrow Stromal cells. Mature rats brain shows that the newly formed neurons move to the olfactory bulb whereas the progenitor cells provide the new neurons to hippocampal subfields. This neurogenesis offers recovery to the stroke patients.

Despite this terminal differentiation of the neuronal cells alone cannot replace the lost tissues but only shows how the brain can spontaneously respond indicating its ability to regenerate. Indeed this recovery is glial neuronal, and progenitor cells initiated and they maintain the transformation of the neural networks that survive, (Tatarishvili et al 2014). Additionally, neurogenesis has been found to be directly related to blood supply since the new neuronal cells need it for survival and development. According to Carrera and Tononi (2014) stroke patients still, show the certain extent of recovery months after it occurs even when there is no intervention. Animal models indicate that there exist time-limited windows in which there exist several neurobiological responses within the sub-acute phase when the recovery mostly takes place.

Within this period indications of timing and pattern of events which occur during recovery are possible, (Krakauer et al, 2012). Both animals and human beings have a recovery period of up to 30 days but this may continue for up to six months and even more. This recovery usually consists of three types of adaptive plasticity mainly the large-scale changes which include the reorganization of the already existing neuronal connections functionally, the second being the endogenous cell response and the third being the neuronal level remodeling which occurs through formation of a new neuronal connection. Also, reorganizations both functionally and structurally cause the area of activation by the stimulation of the surrounding body regions to remain intact. During training or after injury the motor maps within the primary motor cortex are bound to change.

This indicates that training a human being or an animal to carry out specific activities enables the area of the motor cortex which is involved in the control of muscular groups to increase. During recovery from a stroke, several processes within the contralateral hemisphere occur and show more activation in the motor regions especially in the stage of recovery from stroke. Dancause (2006) states that this activation is not well known whether it is caused by functional compensation or from the loss of the transcallosal inhibition. Monkeys that have undergone dorsal zootomy have had their hands within the cortical map activated by stimulating the ipsilateral face. This indicates that a lot of reorganization occurs within the area of the arm and in humans, this is not different since once the arm is amputated then sensory input starts activation within the arms area of the Penfield homunculus within the cortical region.

Sometimes the touch of the face will make the person feel as if he or she is being touched on the hand area too since the cortex area of the hand is activated. Experiments carried out on phantom limbs patients indicate that there are an organized arms map and the lower side of the face with specific sensations being specific. When hot, cold, massage sensations are made on the face then they occur similarly on the limb. Such patients often cannot open their hands free to relieve the pain they experience. Use of the mirror to reduce the associated pain is effective and often results in the patients having less pain. In fact, some patients have reported the complete disappearance of the phantom limb upon repeated use of the mirror and this could be one of the instances in which phantom limb is amputated.

Conclusion The human brain is changing over the lifetime with the structural changes occurring mainly during the fetal development. These changes occur through neurogenesis and neurons migration, while the functional plasticity occurring at the adult brain. References Carmichael, S. T. , Tatsukawa, K. , Katsman, D. , Tsuyuguchi, N. X. , & Kaas, J. H. Dynamic reorganization of digit representations in the somatosensory cortex of nonhuman primates after spinal cord injury. Journal of Neuroscience, 32(42), 14649-14663. , Dobkin, B. H. , O'Brien, C. , Sanger, T. D. , & Cohen, L. G. Neuroplasticity subserving motor skill learning. Neuron, 72(3), 443-454. Eriksson, P. Neurogenesis in the adult human hippocampus.  Nature medicine, 4(11), 1313. Katsman, D. , Zheng, J. , Spinelli, K. , Tejima, E. , Mandeville, J. B. , van Meer, M. P. W. , Carmichael, S. T. , Corbett, D. , & Wittenberg, G.