Neuroplasticity Essay Week 3

After reading Chapter 13 of your course text and viewing Brain Injuries and Fix Me: Unlocking the Possibilities of Stem Cell Research, which cover brain injury and repair, analyze the clinical, biological, and psychological factors that are important in successful brain function recovery outcomes. How can the brain repair itself or restore lost function after TBI or other brain damage (focus on the concept of neuroplasticity)? Wilson (2012) lists ways that the brain can repair itself, but reminds us later in the chapter that, in most areas of the brain, replication of neurons by mitosis to replace lost/dead neurons only occurs in immature brains (i.e., essentially those younger than age two). There are some areas (e.g., the hippocampus, which is responsible for memory) that have neurogenesis, but other areas of the brain must utilize neuroplasticity to restore lost function.
In addition, discuss what clinical, biological, and psychological factors are important in successful brain function recovery outcomes. What are some clinical interventions (e.g., medication, surgery, stem cell therapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, rehabilitation techniques, and psychotherapy) that help facilitate the restoration of lost brain function? Include information on brain structures, pathways, neurotransmitters/receptors, and psychological factors when discussing the topic areas above. Additional emphasis should be placed on relating the underlying pathology of brain trauma and damage to the actual biologic mechanism of how various treatments support repair or restoration of function.

In keeping with the focus of this class, the emphasis should be placed on the role of neurotransmitter and receptor systems, neuroanatomical structures, and neurological functional pathways. You must use a minimum of one peer-reviewed source that was published within the last five years, documented in APA style, as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. Your post should be a minimum of 250 words. You may cite and reference your textbook, required reading and/or multimedia, but these will not fulfill the source requirement.

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument