User:Bntn30/sandbox

Neuroplasticity and Alzheimer's

Neuroplasticity is the change in neural pathways. An ability of the nervous system to continuously adapt, learn and enable recovery. It is a process to which challenges and detects the changes in environment, allowing for survival and demand at hand. Neuroplasticity occurs throughout an individual’s life, yet it is also very much dependent of the age and certain period of life.

Dementia is the decline of cognitive elements, causing side effects such as long-term memory loss and disorientation, affecting daily tasks and functioning. Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is one of the most common form of Dementia. AD causes the dysfunctional and behavioural disability from neuropathological changes in the nervous system. The diagnosis of AD is perceived to be a decline in degeneration of the hippocampus. AD is at result to cause loss of memory along with difficulty in decision making and the cognitive awareness in surroundings. The early stages of detecting AD is noting loss of attention and subtle visual impairments from time to time. The connection of Neuroplasticity and Dementia and more in particular Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) are trial to seek improvement through various types of exercises (mainly aerobic) along with manipulative exercise such as music, articulate and repetitive activities. From current studies and future aspects of technology advancement, the cure for AD and many other neuronal injuries such as stroke, shown the slow progress of AD and recovery of maintaining health via the neuroplasticity of the brain to continue developing the neurofibrils elements that is needed to prevent the degrading of the mind.  

Neuron cell

Neuron Anatomy of Neuron cell showing the axon terminal connecting to each other

Medical Background

Neuroplasticity happens under two main occurrences: One, is during the normal growth of immature brain from a young age till adulthood (plasticity for learning and memory and expected developmental process) and Two, as an adaptive system to an injury or dysfunction to the nervous system pathways.

Neuroplasticity and environmental factors are also correlated, as it influences and affects an individual’s process of recovery.  The human brain’s organisation is formatted by a mechanical nervous system such as Axonal Sprouting. Axons are produced and allow for new nerve endings to be be connected with the damaged nerves in the system. These axons also connect with other nerve cells, creating alternative ways to get nerve signals across the body . Neuroplasticity can be formulated when brain undergoes upon stimulus- synaptic activity, allowing for the nerves to detect the next best possible route for connecting and sending nerve signals across. In the early development of plasticity, the brain undergoes Synaptic Pruning. This is a process that continuously grows from birth till mid 20s. During synaptic pruning, the brain is able to eliminate nerves that are not needed and distinguish main pathways of neurons for communications, allowing for a maximum reach of signal. It is estimated that there are over 15,000 synapse per neuron created during the early stage of birth (0-3 years). This number is almost double the amount of neurons of an average adult brain. It is detected that with age, the numbers of neurons connection also decrease .

Synapse between axons

Medical Research

With more recent research in the past decades, more information has led to the knowledge of the human nervous system, allowing the intel that the brain really never stops changing or adjusting. It was believed before that as we aged, our brain became fixed, however learning was established as the key factor for continuous knowledge and skills along with the experience of gaining it. Memory is the process of how knowledge is gained over a period of time. The ability of how the brain can adjust to this knowledge and new information is plasticity

Current Studies

It has been researched at while exercise, whether it’s recreational or for therapeutic, it can benefit the health immensely, for both young and elderly people. In fact, it is more beneficial and crucial to continue physical exercise and movement as age progresses, reducing depression, increasing mortality rate and improving cardiovascular health. A research was observed and conducted to patients with specific chronic conditions such as arthritis, diabetes and Alzheimer’s. It suggested that exercise may be a factor to the improvement of cognitive thinking and decreasing the chance of AD. A focus on observational study to understand the results related between persons who exercise and sedentary persons. In more particular the gradual decline of how much physical activity, the age and development of chronic disease.  The only issue with such experiments are the difficulty in determining the factors that with age and having a chronic neurodegenerative disease as such as AD would be long or large enough to accumulate a full data of reliable and consistency .

Results from animal models revealed positive effects of exercise on wide range of brain sectors. A study that was based on animal models, explained that exercise and aerobic fitness might be a more direct effect to the tissue loss and ageing in human. The experiment took place on high resolution MRI scans to 55 adults aged 55 and more and revealed the relation between the cognitive brain tissue density to the aerobic fitness durations. The density of tissue was found in the partial, temporal and frontal cortices, affecting some of the major motor cortex and areas of the brain. The results showed that it’s more of a direct effect of habitual exercises that leads to cardiovascular fitness on areas of the brain subjected to age decline.

Plasticity and AD

Current studies have calculated the relationship of AD and hippocampus along with the newly medical approach of brain plasticity. The focus of investigating whether aerobic exercise training increases the size of the anterior hippocampus, allowing improvement to the spatial memory . The effective routines and constant movement has increased the hippocampal volume by 2%. This can be reversely taken by saving 1-2 years of life.

Hippocampus

The Hippocampus shrinks in late adulthood, causing the memory to be compromised and in risk of dementia. Reasons for this is that the shrink of hippocampus when patient is exposed to stress, depression and AD. The shrink can be up to 20% according to research . Intervention and early preventions studies also revealed that as age is older, the short- term physical activity (PA) participation can have an enormous positive impact to the cognitive and spatial function. Outdoor aerobic and resistance training were conducted for a 6-month trial of 80 women aged 70-80 years, investigating the increase of spatial memory along with increase hippocampal volume. Cell loss while in normal ageing and in AD reported in much of the neuronic areas that are crucial to the functioning of cognitive thinking and stimulation for movement.  There are decreased number and decline of large neuronal activity of cerebral glucose metabolism that are responsible for energy generation and diffusion of the blood- brain barrier.

Hormones such as Arginine Vasopressin (AVP) that are formed in the hypothalamus and generates the reabsorption of fluid from the kidneys as well as prompting the blood pressure, cardiac output of the cardiovascular system are also higher in elderly age which is a risk to cause seizures and heart failures .
The plasticity of brain is evidenced in some research, showing the malleability of how the nervous system function, facilitating to the cognitive training and demands of change and improvements in results of a brain injury or disease. However, much of the results gained for this theory is still yet derived from the most durable effect that are observed in old adults that are trained in tasks, with limited duration of experiments and having improvements that are similar in how they are processed, but the content of how these experiments are conducted are not consistent. It is still yet to be fully understood how the function of ageing brain and the neural functions are an indication of the plasticity of brain. From evidence it can be said that older subjects show less neuroplasticity and a cohesive change/improvement to the neural functions than younger subjects

Connection of Plasticity and AD

Alzheimer’s disease is an irreversible disorder that declines the cognitive functioning of the brain, degenerating neuronic regions in particular the memory and learning. Amyloid- β (Aβ) peptides that are the hallmark of memory loss and correlates to the the weakening of the synaptic nerves, disabling the pathways for information to be signalled through the motor cortex and the hypothalamus. The inhibition of depression, stress is also a contributor to this effects.

One crucial aspect of research and investigation that are also conducted, does not refer to the ‘enjoy’ and likelihood of activities performed by subjects. It can be argues that much of cognitive training or neural activities in preventing age- related memory decline is correlated to how much of ‘leisure factor’ it has. Much of core cognitive concepts that are used to evaluate and increase the brain memory are techniques such as computer-based quizzes, puzzles and games that initiates short term memory.

The effective treatment for age- related cognitive decline is said to have met a unfinished goal. However, the progress that is made in understanding better how physical activity (PA) and diet can have considerable changes in the neuroplasticity factors such as neurogenesis, signalling of the nerves at neurotrophic phases along with defence mechanisms that modulate the neural pathways in causation of a damage.  One of the main factors in this study is the importance of lifestyle modification in protecting the brain health as age declines. Higher levels of PA and ensuring dietary consumptions are limited to most healthy food, it can optimise neural plasticity. Once neuroplasticity is activated to a flow, cognitive training can be eased to ensure a neuro-regeneration and proper function of neural circuits are conducted. The construction of such healthy lifestyle is critical as the studies refer to the 97% of the population in the world that are not under the healthy lifestyle characteristics. Of course, the success of a healthy lifestyle and for the neural plasticity to be able to distributed, a long term, progressive goal that promotes the positive health habits.

Future Developments

Please don’t bite me, I’m a newbie!

I’m a university student in a Wikipedia Education class, and I’m currently learning how to contribute to Wikipedia.
This page is a work in progress and I am approaching my subject in good faith.

Thanks!