Aging and Recovery of Function in the Central Nervous System

by Stephen W. Scheff

Overview

The mammalian central nervous system is a remarkable structure which has attracted many new investigators, as evidenced by the dramatic increase in scientific publications dealing with neurobiology. Every day basic scientists conduct new and exciting experiments, resulting in remarkable discoveries des­ tined to help mankind. Unfortunately many of these new findings are slow to be accepted by the clinical world. This is especially true in the area of brain trauma, where the present prognosis is usually very poor. We have known for quite some time that the mammalian central nervous system is capable of compensating for severe damage in many different ways, and under some circumstances behav­ ioral compensation can be observed. However, much is still to be learned about the various factors and events that lead to functional recovery and those conditions that do not. It is this challenge that originally excited a number of the contributors to this volume to explore the subject of recovery from brain damage. One factor in particular that is known to change the prognosis of recovery is the age of the organism at the time of the damage. This book is an attempt to explore this important variable. Most of the literature concerning aging deals with widespread degenerative changes and paints a grim picture for the aging central nervous system in terms of recovery of function following trauma.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781461296805
Publisher:	Springer US
Publication date:	10/01/2011
Edition description:	1984
Pages:	222
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.02(d)

Table of Contents

1 Longevity, Disease, and Autoimmune Reactions following Focal Cortical Injuries.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Longevity.- 3. Disease Profiles.- 4. Neuron-Binding Antibodies.- 5. Conclusions.- References.- 2 Aging and Hypothalamic Regulation of Metabolic, Autonomic, and Endocrine Function.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Structure and Function of the Hypothalamus.- 3. Hypothalamic Theories of Aging.- 4. Effects of Hypothalamic Damage.- 5. Aging-Hypothalamic Damage Comparisons.- 6. Overview and Summary.- References.- 3 Morphological Measurements in the Aging Rat Cerebral Cortex.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Neuronal and Glial Cell Number Changes during Aging.- 3. Aging and Impoverishment.- 4. Summary.- References.- 4 Morphologic Aspects of Brain Damage in Aging.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Reactive Synaptogenesis in Young Adult Animals.- 3. Normal Anatomy of the Aged Hippocampus.- 4. Reactive Synaptogenesis in the Dentate Gyrus of Aged Animals.- 5. Adrenergic Sprouting in the Limbic System of Aged Rats.- 6. Possible Mechanisms for Reduced Sprouting Capacity.- 7. Conclusion.- References.- 5 Relationship of the Raphe and Suprachiasmatic Nuclei to Serotonin Facilitation of Cyclic Reproductive Functions in Aging Female Rats.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Temporal Patterns of Hypothalamic 5-HT and Cyclic Reproductive Function.- References.- 6 Behavioral Consequences of Neuronal Plasticity following Injury to Nigrostriatal Dopaminergic Neurons.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Approaches to Studying the Neural Events Mediating Behavioral Recovery.- 3. Inattention to Stimuli.- 4. Neglect after Nigrostriatal Injury as a Model System.- 5. Neural Events Contributing to Recovery of Sensorimotor Functions.- 6. Future Directions.- 7. Conclusions.- References.- 7 Do Rats Have Hypotheses? A Developmental and Means-Ends Analyses Approach to Brain Damage, Recovery of Function, and Aging.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Methods.- 3. Results.- 4. Discussion.- References.- 8 Age, Brain Damage, and Behavioral Recovery.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Spatial Alternation Learning.- 3. Emotional Reactivity.- 4. DRL-20 Performance.- 5. Discussion.- References.- 9 Age and Recovery from Brain Damage: A Review of Clinical Studies.- 1. Functional Plasticity after Early Brain Injury.- 2. Head Injury through the Lifespan.- 3. Pathophysiology of Closed-Head Injury in Relation to Age.- 4. Effects of Age on Outcome after Head Injury.- 5. Early and Late Neurobehavioral Effects of Head Injury.- 6. Directions for Future Research.- References.- 10 Recovery of Function in Senile Dementia of the Alzheimer Type.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Alzheimer’s Disease: The Clinical and Biochemical Problem.- 3. Behavioral Strategies for Cognitive Deficits of Alzheimer’s Disease.- 4. Pharmacologic Intervention in Alzheimer’s Disease.- 5. Cholinergic Systems, Trophic Substances, and Potential Therapies for Alzheimer’s Disease.- 6. Pharmacologic Enhancement of a Trophic Factor Effect.- References.