The Importance Of Neuronal Plasticity In The Prognosis Of Cases Of Cerebral Ischemia: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Background: Neuronal plasticity is the capacity that the neurons have to make new connections and enable new ways of transmitting information. Under this context, new methodologies are being addressed in order to measure how important this neuronal capacity is in the process of full recovery of learning in subjects who suffered damage from cerebral ischemia.

Methods: A systematic review was performed on the online databases: Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE) and Scopus, between 1998 and 2014. The MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) descriptors used in this review were: "neuronal plasticity", "brain ischemia" and "learning". We found 164 articles that, when screened, resulted in 46 articles that met the criteria of evidence and were included in this review.

Results: There are several ways available in the literature to increase neuronal plasticity to keep the learning process after bad conformations resulting from cerebral ischemia. We highlighted the most elucidated: those promoted by SMe1EC2 antioxidant, which brings therapeutic benefits when neuronal plasticity is impaired; and Atorvastatin, a statin which facilitates recovery of spatial learning. It is further observed that the body has a number of intrinsic devicessuch as the endogenous compensatory mechanisms that contribute to the development of neuronal plasticity when there is brain damage caused by ischemia.

Conclusion: The improvement of neuronal plasticity appears in several studies mapped as a new and still little explored possibility of treatment of damages caused by brain processes of oxygen deprivation. Multiple devices, endogenous and exogenous, that promote an increase in neuronal plasticity, are being elucidated in an attempt to promote the full recovery of the learning process, decreased by brain damage from ischemic processes. Thus, it is pointed the necessity of scientific studies that allows to define and maximize the potentials of the neuronal plasticity.