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44 Cards in this Set

  • Front
  • Back
Tumor, benign, malignant
- uncontrollable growth of cells that serves no useful function.
- A benign tumor has a distinct border between the tumor cells and the surrounding tissue (i.e. it is encapsulated).
- Malignant tumors give rise to a process of metastasis in which tumor cells travel through vascular system and grow elsewhere in the body.
How can a tumor harm brain
compresses tissue, invades surrounding tissue
ANY TUMOR IN THE BRAIN IS HARMFUL
Meningioma; Glioma ( astrocytoma, ependymoma, medulloblastoma, oligodendrocytoma )
tumor of cells in meninges, encapsulated, benign; most common and most serious= tumor of glial cells
Partial seizures, two types
definite focus (source) and remain localized.
Simple partial= changes to consiousness, patients remember a lot
complex partial= loss of consciousness, dont remember anything
Diagnosis for epilepsy...
relies on EEG recordings- high amplitude EEG spike occur during attacks
Generalized seizure
- widespread involving most of brain
- grand mal and petit mal
Grand mal seizure- describe phases and preceding sensations
- most severe
- preceded by mood changes, sudden jerks, an aura (peculiar sensation)
- begins with tonic phase (muscles rigid eyes roll, for 15 seconds) then into clonic phase (muscles tremble, tongue may be bitten, sweating and salivation, after 30 seconds relax and begin breathing again)
Petit Mal
- seen in children
- aka absence seizure
- vacant look, blinking, unresponsive
- disrupt normal activities and often goes undiagnosed, but cease at adolescence
- EEG shows electrical discharge similar in both hemispheres
causes of seizures
most common: stroke, injury, or tumor
but also due to alcohol or barbiturate withdrawal (when you stop the long term depressant effects of these, mind becomes overexcited)
Status epilepticus
patient experiences several seizures without regaining consciousness
- causes excessive glutamate release during (thus NMDA receptors involved in seizures)
How are NMDA receptors involved in seizures
- NMDA receptors control calcium channels.
- Alcohol blocks NMDA receptors.
- Long-term suppression of NMDA receptors (due to alcohol abuse) causes supersensitivity (up-regulation) of the receptors.
- When an alcoholic suddenly stops drinking, the suppressed NMDA receptors suddenly rebound.
- The increased activity of NMDA receptors cause seizures.
- also during status epileptics
What causes a hemorrhagic stoke?
bleeding in the brain because blood vessels burst due to blood pressure
What causes a Ischemic Stroke (3)
- thrombus (blood clot) most common
- embolus ( goes thru bloodstream and loges itself
- arteriosclerosis (thickening of arterial wall)
How does stroke cause brain damage?
- Sodium-potassium channels stop functioning due to lack of oxygen and glucose.
- The neuron membrane depolarizes which causes excessive glutamate release.
- Excessive glutamate triggers excessive influx of Na+ and Ca2+ ions by way of NMDA receptors.
- Excessive Na+ and Ca2+ is toxic to the cell.
- like an EXCITOTOXIC LESION
damaged mitochondria in stroke patients causes
free radicals
how can you treat strokes
anticolagulant to prevent clotting ex. desmetoplase. this is an enzyme found in vampire bats which can be injected directly into brain to reduce stroke symptoms
- dissolve blood clot using tPA tissue plasminogen activator but this is toxic if crosses blood brain barrier
- reduce risk factors
What are the characteristics of fetal alcohol syndrome?
abnormal brain development, long upper, lip narrow forehead.
PKU
unable to convert phenylanine into tyrosine (both are amino acids). Diet with high protein is high in this.
- Excessive phenylanine interferes with myelinization of neurons after birth.
- Place child on low-phenylamine diet otherwise severe mental retardation
Tay-Sachs
caused by an accumulation of waste products in the brain.
- Lysosomes lack an enzyme that normally breaks down waste products.
- The lysosomes get larger as waste accumulates causing eventual swelling of the brain.
Downs, symptoms
congenital disorder (present at birth), NOT caused by a faulty gene


- round heads
- thick, protruding tongues. Keep mouth open.
- stubby hands, low set ears, slanting eyes, short stature.
- slow to learn
- brains are 10% lighter; sulci and gyri are smaller and simpler.
- small frontal lobe and thin superior temporal gyrus
- there is a similarity between downs and alzimers due to abnormal proteins
Transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE), ex
contagious brain diseases which give the brain a spongelike appearance. They are fatal.


- BSE: Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (‘mad cow disease’)
- Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (When transmitted to humans from cows)
- Kuru (humans only)
- Scrapie (sheep only)
Symptoms of TSE, causes
- dementia (loss of memory and personality; hallucinations)
- speech impairment
- ataxia; changes in gait, rigid posture
- seizures

- caused by prions (protein infectious agents)
- healthy
prions (PrPc) are found in membranes where they play a role is synaptic function.
- The infectious protein (PrPSc) appears identical to the healthy protein except how folded
Causes of parkinsons in cells
- lewy bodies present
- mutation of gene on chromo 4 which normally produces α- synuclein which is involved in synaptic transmission in dopaminergic neurons
- Abnormal accumulation of α-synuclein is toxic to the cell and causes aggregations in dopaminergic neurons. Lewy bodies consist of these aggregations.
What has been known to cause Parkinsons
a synthesized heroin (demoral) which contained MPTP (1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6- tetrohydropyridine).
how can we surgically treat parkinsons
- transplantation of fetal tissue (uncommon) into striatum
- stem cells
- destruction on GPi or STN
Neural correlates of Alzheimer’s Disease
- produces degeneration of hippocampus, entorhinal cortex, frontal and temporal ass cortex, nucleus basalis (ACh), raphe nuclei, and locus coeruleus
Why does β-amyloid accumulate in Alzheimer patients
β-amyloid is found in amyloid plaques, the accumulation os which is caused by a defective form of β-amyloid.
There are two types of β-amyloid long and short, and a high concentration of long causes brain degeneration
AD and downs have what in common?
β-amyloid deposits
What are genetic causes of AD
- mutation of gene AAP (amyloid precursor protein). Also responsible for tangle deposits
- mutation of the gene for Tau deposits associated with frontotemporal dementia
- mutation of gene for apolipopreotein E increases late- onset of it by interferring with removal of long β-amyloid
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
attacks the spinal cord and cranial nerve motor neurons. Symptoms: spasticity, exaggerated stretch, muscle weakness and eventual paralysis.
Tumor initiating cells
cells that come from transformations of neural stem cells and give rise to a glioma
What can increase recovery from brain damage?
administering antibodies that work against NogoA a myelin protein that inhibits the branching and growing of axons. Also, nosine, a chemical activates a protein that also encourages axon growth.
Neural adhesion protein
one which helps to guide the growth of neurons in developing brain
pyridoxine dependency
metabolic disorder where infant requires larger than normal normal amounts of vitamin B6 (pyridoxine). results in damage to cerebral white matter, the thalamus, and the cerebellum
Prion-like mechanisms have been linked to what?
establishment of long term memories. People with mutation against PRNO gene which makes the human prion protein gene, show defiits in a spatial learning and long term memory task.
Caspase
killer enzyme that plays role in apoptosis
Parkin
a gene produced by chromosome 6, the mutation of which interferes with the ferrying and folding of proteins and causes a strand of Parkinsons.
Proteasome; Ubiquitin
organelle responsible for destroying defective or degraded proteins within the cell; protein that attaches to faulty proteins and targets them for protresomes to destroy
Deprenly
drug given to parkinsons patient because it inhibits MOA-B enzyme which appears to reduce symptoms
Tau protein
A protein that normally serves as a component of microtubules, which provide the cell’s transport mechanism and cytoskeleton. During the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, excessive amounts of phosphate ions become attached to strands of tau protein, thus changing its molecular structure. Abnormal filaments are seen in the soma and proximal dendrites of pyramidal cells in the cerebral cortex, which disrupt transport of substances within the cell, and the cell dies, leaving behind a tangle of protein filaments.
Frontotemporal Lateral Dementia
(aka Picks disease): mutation of gene for tau protein that causes degeneration of the frontal and temporal cortex and dementia
Korksakoff syndrome
caused by chronic alcoholism which leads to thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency.
Encephalitis
inflammation of brain cause by bacteria, viruses or chemicals
Acte anterior poliomyelitis
viral disease that destroys motor neurons