13 In the popular press you may hear the statement that MS i

13. In the popular press, you may hear the statement that “M.S. is a disease that attacks the nerves.” Is this a true statement? Briefly explain.

14. If you had a brain tumor that affected the cerebral cortex and the neurosurgeon said she was going to operate based on textbook descriptions of the locations of functional brain areas, what would you tell her and why?

15. What would be the result of an injury to the dorsal horn of the spinal cord in the lumbar region? Would someone still have reflexes in the affected region?

16. If someone has a brain injury that destroys the primary motor cortex, will they still have spinal reflexes such as the stretch reflex discussed in class? Why or why not?

17. Which region of the spinal cord has the most (largest amount of) white matter? Why?

Solution

13. \"M.S. is a disease that attacks the nerves\" is a true statement. Reasons being:

a) Multiple sclerosis (M. S.) is a demyelinating disease which means it damages myelin sheaths acting as insulating covers of the nerves impairing the signal conduction process.

b) Neoronal signal transduction is required for basic sensory functions that are conducted throgh nerves.

14. Brain is the most complex organ of the human body as it controls the functions of all other organs. Brain tumor can not be treated only on the basis of locations of functional brain areas. It requires repeated assessment of neural network characteristics in brain tumor patient during the disease. Therefore, it is not advisable to operate the brain tumor in the cerebral cortex based only on the bookish knowledge of the brain anatomy.

15.  Spinal dorsal horn processes sensory information and it sends signals to various pathways that regulate pain and temperature perception. Injury to this region can cause impairment to sensory actions resulting in disease syndromes. The damage would lose the presence of reflexes in the affected region.

17. The peripheral are of the spinal cord has the maximum amount of white matter. It is because it consists almost totally of myelinated motor and sensory axons.