Researchers in California are showing some promising results with a new approach to treating stroke. The scientists are focusing on getting undamaged parts of the brain to (1)_________________________________. In a stroke, a loss of blood supply from a clot, for example, can starve brain tissue of oxygen, and brain cells die.
Each part of the brain is hard-wired for certain functions. One part interprets vision, for example; another moves the left hand. But if undamaged regions can (2)__________________________________killed off in the stroke, then patients might regain lost functions. Thomas Carmichael of the University of California Los Angeles explains that the brain can do that itself, in a limited way.
"The tissue around the damaged region can take over some of the function that was lost. For example, if the region that was lost moved the arm, a portion of the brain that, say, normally moves the face (3)_____________________________can take over some arm movement." Carmichael and his colleagues have been trying to figure out how to improve the process. Using laboratory mice, the scientists induced a stroke in the animals' forelimbs.
"And the rest of the forelimb-movement area is supposed to kick into gear and take over function. And what we found is this tissue that was supposed to kick into gear was instead over-inhibited because it had an accumulation of this inhibitory molecule, GABA."