Psychology 121: Biopsychology

Exam 2 Term List

Please note that this list is not exhaustive but reflects major “terms” presented in lecture.

• Stroke
• Act F.A.S.T
• Face-does face droop while smiling?
• Arms-does one arm drift downward
• Speech-are words slurred? able to repeat sentence?
• Time
• Symptoms of Stroke
• Cerebral Hemorrhage-bleeding in the brain
• caused by hypertension, structural defects, toxic chemicals, blood disease or rupture of
aneurisms
• Obstructive strokes (Cerebral Ischemia)-loss of blood flow to a region
• Thrombosis-blockage by clot, fat or oil
• Embolism-blockage passes from larger to smaller blood vessel
• Arteriosclerosis-narrowing of blood vessels; blood vessels harden and plaque builds up
• Excitotoxic Damage-poisoning of the neuron as a result of overactivity and glutamate release
• Hypoxia-loss of oxygen to tissues
• NMDA-glutamate receptors that release excess quantities of Calcium and Sodium to postsynaptic
neurons
• Consequences of Stroke
• paralysis or weakness in one side of body
• depression
• emotion problems
• pain/numbness
• problems with cognitive functions (learning, memory, speech, etc.)
• Treatment
• tPA-used to thin blood, only beneficial within 3 hours and can be neurotoxic
• DISPA-prevents blood from clotting
• Neuroprotectants-unapproved drugs that protect brain from excitotoxic damage
• Open head injuries-brain is penetrated and tissue directly damaged
• Closed head injuries-TBI-
• Coup-compression at site of impact
• Countercoup-compression at opposite side of impact
• Subdural hematoma-caused by severe TBI, bruise in brain
• Causes of Head Injury
• Falls (leading cause)
• Vehicle Accidents
• Struck by/agaist-sports injuries and others
• Assault/Firearms
• CTBI-repetitive close head injuries
 • slurred speech, memory impairment, Parkinson's like symptoms
• Cancer
• Meningioma-tumors in the meninges that are self-contained
• Glioma-tumor in glial cells that often metastasize
• Metastic Tumors-shedding of cancerous cells, causes spreading of the tumor
• Encapsulated Tumor-contained in meninges, doesn’t spread
• Partial Seizures-epileptic focus, starts in cortex, not brainwide
• Simple Partial Seizure-primarily sensory or motor
• Complex Partial Seizure-restricted to temporal lobes
• Corpus callosum-partial seizures cross to get to other hemisphere
• Generalized Seizures-brainwide with no originating focal point, starts in thalamus and spreads
throughout the brain
• Thalamus-originating point of generalized seizures
• Grand mal Seizure-3 stages (tonic, clonic and coma), violent convulsions
• Petit mal Seizure-breif period of conscious unawareness
• Parkinson’s Disease
• Rigidity-stiffness of flexor and extensor muscles
• Tremor-prominent in hands and absent during sleep
• Bradykinesia-difficulty initiating and slowness of movement
• Postural Instability-inability to stop from falling
• MPTP-drug that creates paralysis and symptoms similar to Parkinson's
• Dopamine-loss of dopamine cause of parkinson’s disease
• Substantia Nigra-site of lost dopamine neurons
• Caudate Putamen-Dopamine input to this area is lost (inhibited)
• Globus Pallidus-Dopamine loss in Caudate/Putamen leads to disinhibition of GP, net effect being
excitation (inhibiting an inhibitor=disinhibition)
• Drug Treatments
• Levodopa-dopamine increasing drug Parkinson's treatment
• Deprenyl-drug treatment for PD
• Surgery
• Cryothalamotomy-destroying part of thalamus responsible for tremors
• Deep Brain Stimulation-implanting of electronic stimulator in brain
• Pallidotomy-interrupts the neural pathway b/w GP and thalamus
• Transplants
• Schizophrenia
• Positive Symptoms-add something (hallucinations, delustions)
• Negative Symptoms-take away something (poverty of speech, emotional withdrawal, depression,
etc
• Cognitive Symptoms-problems w/ learning and memory, problem solving etc.
• Chlorpromazine-first drug discovered to reduce schizophrenic symptoms, blocks dopamine
receptors
• dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia
• theory that schizophrenia is caused by too much dopamine
• Clozapine-does not have tardive dyskinesia symptoms, drug that was administered to kid who
committed suicide, blocks receptors for serotonin and dopamine
 • Ventricular enlargement-result of schizophrenics
• Decreased cortical volume-loss of gray matter in brain
• Degeneration
• Anterograde degeneration-degeneration b/w cut and synaptic terminals
• Retrograde degeneration-degeneration b/w cut and cell body
• Transneuronal degeneration-spreading of degeneration to neurons connected by synapses
• Anterograde transneuronal degeneration-the neuron connected to the cell body of degenerated
cell will degenerate
• Retrograde transneuronal degeneration-neuron connected to synaptic terminals of degenerated
cell will degenerate
• Apoptosis-programmed cell death, shrinkage and reduction to vacuoles
• Necrosis-passive cell death, swelling and burst of cell
• Regeneration-originally thought to be nonexistant in adult brain, new evidence shows cells can
regenerate, can only occur in PNS of mammals
• Schwann Cells-”pipes” that encase myelin sheath that guide regenerating axons to the correct target,
only exist in PNS
• Myelin-the sheath covering the axons in neurons that is sometimes covered with schwann cells
• Growth Factors-chemical signals that trigger regenerative process
• Cell adhesion molecules
• Reorganization-recently found to occur in adult mammals in CNS
• Sprouting-axon branches from healthy cells to form synapses at cells vacated by degenerated neuron
• BrdU-stain used to mark dividing cells, recently shows regeneration may be possible in CNS
(hippocampal region)
• Enriched environment-in rats has shown to produce stimulation of new neurons in hippocampus