Neural Compensations After Lesion of the Cerebral Cortex

[摘要] Functional improvement after corticalinjury can be stimulated by various factorsincluding experience, psychomotor stimulants,gonadal hormones, and neurotrophic factors.The, timing of the administration of thesefactors may be critical, however. For example,factors such as gonadal hormones, nerve growthfactor, or psychomotor stimulants may act toeither enhance or retard recovery, dependingupon the timing of administration. Nicotine, forinstance, stimulates recovery if given after aninjury but is without neuroprotective effect andmay actually retard recovery if it is given onlypreinjury. A related timing problem concernsthe interaction of different treatments. Forexample, behavioral therapies may act, in part,via their action in stimulating the endogenousproduction of trophic factors. Thus, combiningbehavioral therapies with pharmacologicaladministration of compounds to increase theavailability of trophic factors enhances functionaloutcome. Finally, anatomical evidence suggeststhat the mechanism of action of many treatmentsis through changes in dendritic arborization,which presumably reflects changes in synapticorganization. Factors that enhance dendriticchange stimulate functional compensation,whereas factors that retard or block dendriticchange block or retard compensation.

[学科分类] 精神健康和精神病学