Articles: brain-injuries.
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Brain research bulletin · Sep 2000
Large cortical lesions produce enduring forelimb placing deficits in un-treated rats and treatment with NMDA antagonists or anti-oxidant drugs induces behavioral recovery.
Previous studies have utilized a lesion model of cortical injury that produces transient behavioral impairments to investigate the recovery of function process. To better understand the recovery process, it would be beneficial to use a lesion model that produces more severe, enduring, behavioral impairments. The purpose of experiment 1 was to validate whether large lesions of the sensorimotor cortex (SMC), which included the rostral forelimb and caudal forelimb regions, produced enduring behavioral deficits. ⋯ Treatment with these drugs induced behavioral recovery on the forelimb placing tests, whereas, the saline-treated rats did not show any signs of behavioral recovery for at least 3 months. Anatomical analysis of the striatum showed that MK-801 and MgCl(2) but not PBN reduced the extent of lesion-induced striatal atrophy. These results suggest that administration of MK-801, MgCl(2), or PBN shortly after cortical injury can induce recovery of function when recovery is otherwise not expected in un-treated rats.
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Neglect patients often present with a rightward shift of the direction straight-ahead of body midline. We investigated whether directions ahead of other body parts were similarly shifted or were differentially affected. ⋯ Moreover, the projection of the left hemibody was smaller than the right in all subjects, with and without neglect. This unexpected finding is discussed with regard to other spatial asymmetries observed in normal subjects.
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The decrease in mortality and improved outcome for patients with severe traumatic brain injury over the past 25 years can be attributed to the approach of "squeezing oxygenated blood through a swollen brain". Quantification of cerebral perfusion by monitoring of intracranial pressure and treatment of cerebral hypoperfusion decrease secondary injury. Before the patient reaches hospital, an organised trauma system that allows rapid resuscitation and transport directly to an experienced trauma centre significantly lowers mortality and morbidity. Only the education of medical personnel and the institution of trauma hospital systems can achieve further improvements in outcome for patients with traumatic brain injuries.
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Journal of neurotrauma · Sep 2000
Role of nociceptin/orphanin FQ in age-dependent cerebral hemodynamic effects of brain injury.
This study was designed to compare the role of the newly described endogenous opioid nociceptin/orphanin FQ (NOC/oFQ) in the reductions of cerebral blood flow (CBF) and pial artery diameter observed following fluid percussion brain injury (FPI) in chloralose anesthetized newborn and juvenile pigs as a function of time postinsult. FPI elevated CSF NOC/oFQ concentration from 70 +/- 3 to 444 +/- 51 within 1 h and to 1,931 +/- 112 pg/mL (n = 7) within 8 h, whereas concentrations returned to control value within 168 h in the newborn. In contrast, FPI elevated CSF NOC/oFQ from 77 +/- 4 to 202 +/- 16 pg/mL (n = 7) within 1 h, while values returned to control value within 8 h in the juvenile. ⋯ Similar observations for reductions in pial artery diameter were made in untreated and treated newborns and juveniles. These data suggest that an elevated CSF NOC/oFQ concentration and altered vascular responsiveness to this opioid contribute to reductions in CBF and pial artery diameter observed following FPI. Because such NOC/oFQ changes were greater in newborns versus juveniles, these data further suggest that NOC/oFQ contributes to age-related cerebral hemodynamic differences in the effects of FPI.