Funct Neurol
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Basic neuroscience has demonstrated new mechanisms of neuroplasticity in the healthy and the lesioned brain. Post injury, behavioral experience and neuronal stimulation-based therapy seem to play an adaptive role in the injured brain, modifying the functional organization of remaining cortical tissue and leading to clinical improvements. ⋯ We review some of the main results from animal experimental and human clinical studies focusing on mechanisms of reorganization of the motor cortex in response to injury and highlight different available approaches used to modulate and to evaluate motor cortical plasticity. Finally, we discuss how knowledge on neuroplasticity might be applied to neurorehabilitation strategies in neurologically impaired patients.
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Migraine headaches have a complex pathophysiology; both vascular and neuronal mechanisms have been proposed. One possible scenario begins with a series of destabilising events within the brain that trigger cortical spreading depression (CSD). ⋯ The best evidence to date comes from certain subtypes of migraine with aura in which point mutations in genes controlling translocation of calcium, sodium and potassium have been implicated. This review briefly summarises recent migraine research that supports CSD as an upstream driver of the migraine attack as well as an activator of the trigemino-vascular system.