The Brain and It's Self Recovery Abilities!

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So we spoke about lesions some days ago. A condition where there is a damaged of a tissue or organ. With regards to this blog, we are focusing on brain cells damage (brain lesion)

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So the question is, how do we recover?

You see, recovery from cerebral lesions varies greatly. Let's consider aphasia, a condition we spoke about in previous blogs. A language disorder that affects a persons ability to communicate.

In some cases of aphasia, there is a considerable possibility for recovery. For instance, a stroke patient with aphasia may regain normal fluency and comprehension after a couple of months, although there may be some dificulty in finding words which is sometimes called anomia. When you show such a person a picture of a key, the patient would be unable to think of its name and end up saying, "I know what it does.. you use it to open a door".

But in other severe cases, the recovery possibility is very much less, and the prospects for improvements are not too bright. In an instance where the individual has not recovered in about a year or more after the brain injury, the hopes for further recovery are relatively small or reduced.

How then can we explain these great variations in the degree to which patients recover from brain damage?

One important factor to consider is whether some or even all of the neurons in the affected area were damaged, rather than being outright destroyed.

In an instance where they were only damaged, many of the symptoms the patients displays may be reversible. An instance of a condition that can be reversed is the harm caused by pressure due to swelling after a head injury, infection, or tumor. This can be done by draining some cerebral fluid to relieve cranial pressure, the damaged neurons then may recover and the patient's symptoms will become less severe or even disappear completely.

Things don't look as good when brain cells have been totally destroyed. Reason is, there is no replacement warranty for dead neurons. Once a neuron(brain cell) is lost, it's forever.

Anyways, still, some possibilities of improvement remain. One of which is the formation of new connections. The axons of
some healthy neurons adjacent to the damaged cells will grow new branches,
called collateral sprouts, which may eventually attach themselves to the synapses left vacant by the cells lost through injury.

Now, let's see what happens to a rat with a lesion in the hypothalamus.

In the initial days after the lesion, the rat can't even stand or walk, just lying on its belly. However, after a few weeks, there is some improvement. Some scientists who were involved in this experiment assumed that, some of the axons cut by the lesion slowly grew(sprout) new branches that compensate for cells that were permanently damaged. This means that a smaller group of neurons can now do the job that used to be done by many.

It's not certain whether these new branches will always be helpful. Improvement will only happen if the newly grown branches connect to the right places(terminals). In the case where the connections are made randomly, the animal might end up in a worse condition than before. It's similar to what occurs when a cable of telephone wires is cut. The key is to reconnect the wires as they were, as anything else will result in telephone chaos. Yet we still don't have a precise understanding of when sprouting if the axons will be beneficial and when it won't, although there is evidence indicating that both outcomes are possible.

Another element that can lead to recovery is when other parts of the brain take on the functions of the damaged regions. This appears to happen in specific instances of recovering from aphasia, where the right hemisphere starts handling some of the tasks initially managed by the left.

There is evidence from patients who exhibited almost full recovery of language abilities after experiencing lesion to the left hemisphere. In many of these instances, there is an increase in the blood flow to the right hemisphere.

So, it seems that the brain possesses a certain flexibility in its functions. Tasks carried out by one area of the brain can be assumed by other parts when injury demands it. This adaptability is usually more seen in young children. At least until the age of eight, kids who develop aphasia regain their ability to speak, regardless of how severe their impairment was immediately after the brain injury.

Bus stops here for today:

It's fascinating how our brain can self-recover and adapt by repairing damages, forming new connections, and redistributing functions to unaffected areas. I hope you are as fascinated as I am. Thanks for joining me in today's blog-isode. I'd be happy to hear your opinions in the comment section about this topic or on my blogs. I enjoy doing this, and I always want to make sure my readers also enjoy reading. Until tomorrow, stay safe!