# Neuroplasticity



## RobynC (Jun 10, 2011)

It amazes me the ability of the body to repair itself under some circumstances. In some ways we are incredibly flimsy and weak, and in some ways remarkably adaptable.

Back in 1987 either an employee or boss at a company dropped a .44 calibur gun off a desk which happened to fire. The bullet hit a 14 year old named Ahad Israfil in the head: It blew out his right cerebral hemisphere (IIRC about 30-40% overall mass), and the skull that covered it.

He had to undergo numerous surgeries including a great many plastic surgeries which ultimately was completely resolved by creating a plastic cap which covered the damaged section of his skull so it didn't look like (as his mother called it) deflated basketball.

The most amazing thing is that not only did he survive _(far as I know he's still alive: He's 40 now)_, his brain was able to somehow rewire itself: He ultimately graduated college with an honors degree amazing as this is _(some people don't do that with both hemispheres running)_.

Interestingly he was sharp prior to the shot to the head; the fact that he's alive in and of itself amazes the hell out of me, but the fact that he graduated college with honors frankly stuns me.


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## Red Panda (Aug 18, 2010)

Wow...amazing really


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## SirDave (Sep 1, 2012)

There is evidence for "brain" (skull) injury intervention from prehistoric times, certainly during the Bronze Age and I seem to recall something in the London Dunday Times of an instance in the late Stone Age. 

Surgical removal of a section of the skull at the brain-pan is called trepanation. Trepanation is perhaps the oldest surgical procedure for which there is archaeological evidence, and in some areas may have been quite widespread. 

Head or skull injuries were pretty common in prehistoric times and it would've been necessary to remove the pieces of bone left by the injury and to clean up the trauma site.

Out of 120 prehistoric skulls found at one burial site in France dated to 8,500 BP, 40 had trepanation holes. 

Many prehistoric and premodern patients had signs of their skull structure healing, suggesting that many of those subjected to the surgery survived. 

Trepanning - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## bengalcat (Dec 8, 2010)

I've heard that kids' brains' ability to drastically rewire following damage or loss is far greater than adults'. This person was 14 years old. I wonder if there is a cut-off. 

It's also interesting how the brain can bounce back from such a massive, sudden structural loss but what about ongoing smaller insults? Or chemical insults? Is losing matter through sheer physical loss much easier for the brain to deal with than losing functionality of sets of neurons through drugs and infections?


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## C3bBb (Oct 22, 2013)

bengalcat said:


> I've heard that kids' brains' ability to drastically rewire following damage or loss is far greater than adults'. This person was 14 years old. I wonder if there is a cut-off.
> 
> It's also interesting how the brain can bounce back from such a massive, sudden structural loss but what about ongoing smaller insults? Or chemical insults? Is losing matter through sheer physical loss much easier for the brain to deal with than losing functionality of sets of neurons through drugs and infections?


This isn't an easy question to answer and obviously, depending on where the trauma in the brain is localized, you can have anywhere between a completely comatose state to temporary dementia. But if you consider the effects of drugs are more specific due to its direct effects on hormone releasing patterns from neurons, which in turn generates downstream peripheral effects in the body (heart rate blood-pressure changes, oculomotor reflexes, etc.)


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## GottSchreit (Mar 20, 2014)

Some types of injuries, especially chemical ones, may also impair the brains plasticity. What's really amazing is how strokes in middle ages people still lead to rewiring, though usually not very effectively. Sometimes however, the rewiring leads to savant abilities and complete changes in emotion. Brain plasticity is fascinating, and only barely understood. We've spent too long looking at the brain like every other (rigid) organ, but only now are we beginning to see how unique it is.


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