The cerebellum, latin for “little brain”, is responsible for
all of our small, coordinated movements. Additionally, this “little brain” is
packed with a little more than half of the brain’s total neuron count! Thusly,
you can assume that it is pretty important, and yet this woman has been functioning
in society and completely missing it. Additionally, according to neurosurgeon
Feng Yu, this woman is only one of nine known individuals to be alive from
missing their cerebellum.
A recent study published in Brain discusses the interesting topic of neuroplasticity, in which
the brain can reprogram itself to take on new tasks when it is missing
important structures. The 24 year old woman’s symptoms due to her loss of the
cerebellum are surprisingly described as mild to moderate, as her movements are
only irregular and slowed, indicating that her brain has underwent some level
of neuroplasticity.
As more tests are run on the woman, it will be interesting
to see what new discoveries await.
References:
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ReplyDeleteThat is crazy! So I am assuming that she had some-sort of a birth defect and never had it? The concept of adaptive mechanisms for neuroplasticity is fascinating. While synaptic pruning takes away weaker synaptic connections, her strong connections that she was using developed even stronger. For injury specific cases, “brain cells surrounding the damaged area undergo changes in their function and shape that allowed them to take on the functions of the damaged cells.”
ReplyDeleteThe cerebellum seems to be the region of the brain most affected with alcohol consumption, so the only thing I can compare it to is alcohol and its affects on fine motor movement and balance. Can you imagine going your whole life without being able to coordinate your movements or balance? Or even the limitations you would experience in terms of daily tasks or career options that wouldn’t be accessible to you?
https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/plast.html
http://neuroscience.uth.tmc.edu/s3/chapter05.html
http://www.iflscience.com/brain/24-year-old-woman-born-without-cerebellum-her-brain
Ahhhh I have heard of this story! Very interesting and fascinating how the human brain can adapt to such extreme circumstances. I am curious to the extent of her motor movements and what exactly she has trouble doing. As we all know the cerebellum is a very important structure associated with controlled movements. A patient with Multiple Sclerosis affecting the cerebellum can be restricted to a wheel chair, which is so mind boggling to me that there is a human being out there without it. I wonder if scientists can learn something from her and what regions of her brain now are responsible for her coordinated movements? (I am also curious as to what the doctor's first thought was?!?!).
ReplyDeleteAnother thought I had when reading about this woman was, "If other parts of her brain have undergone neuroplastisity to take over for the missing cerebellum, then are those areas functions also affected as well?" Meaning that if part of her brain is now responsible for movement, that was not its original design was it? I would be curious to ask if her vision or hearing or speak is that of a person with a normal brain, or if this woman struggles in other aspects of her life beyond movement.
This reminds me of a story I was told by a professor of mine at CU. He was big into the development of imaging techniques and was involved with MEG while I was a student. He told a story of one of the first MRIs built and tested. The story goes that these residents were all jumping into the MRI and scanning one and other when one of them received a cranial scan and they did not have any visible brain structures. At first the result was chalked up to a malfunction as the man clearly had a brain but after the machine provided clear images of other people's brains it became apparent that maybe this resident did not have a brain. Turns out this guy had severe undiagnosed hydrocephaly. His cerebral aqueduct had become clogged in the distant past and his choroid plexus was still emitting CSF. His ventricles expanded until all of his nervous tissue was adhered to the skull. Amazingly this man stumbled upon his condition with no complaint of deficits. Just as the article you presented it demonstrates the remarkable plasticity the brain has if the insult takes place at an early stage of development. Not only can the brain display plasticity within small circuits but it can display plasticity between large circuits.
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