Brain

Description

The portion of the vertebrate central nervous system that constitutes the organ of thought and neural coordination, includes all the higher nervous centers receiving stimuli from the sense organs and interpreting and correlating them to formulate the motor impulses, is made up of neurons and supporting and nutritive structures, is enclosed within the skull, and is continuous with the spinal cord through the foramen magnum. Also named encephalon [Source: Brenda].

Structure

Changes associated with this tissue

Due to the potentially large amount of high-throughput molecular changes these have been excluded below. You can view the full list of 737 changes through the filter results page.

Physiological (50) View on results page

Accumulation of extracellular neuritic plaques Accumulation of neuromelanin in dopaminergic nigral neurons Altered brain mitochondrial metabolism Axon loss Brain matter volume declines Brain volume decrease Brain volume decreases in a regional-specific way Calcium binding capacity decreases in neurons Cerebral blood flow and glucose utilization are reduced Cerebral spinal fluid amount increases Cortical plasticity decreases Decrease in mitochondrial content and oxidative metabolism in cells Degeneration of dopamine neurons and receptors Demyelination Dendrite regression, reduction in dendrite length Depolarization of mitochondria Down regulation of calcium clearance from nerve cells EEG alterations during auditory test Frequency of mitochondrial DNA deletions increases with age Frequency of somatic mitochondrial mutations increases with age Glial cell number Global neuron loss Gray matter volume decreases Increased bilateral anterior frontal activity in memory interference tests Increased rhinal cortex activity and functional connectivity in tests for verbal familiarity Increased sustained activity in tests of working memory Increased transient activity in non-spatial auditory working memory test Intracellular glutathione content decreases Layer-specific dendritic regression of pyramidal cells Leukoaraiosis Localized increases and decreases in synaptic transmission Mean diffusivity increases and water diffusion anisotropy decreases Medial temporal activation during encoding and retrieval of memory is reduced Mutations in mitochondrial DNA accumulate Neural stem cell pool declines Neurofibrillary tangles and Lewy bodies in neurons Neurogenesis is reduced Neuronal soma shrinks in size Neurotransmitter and neuro receptor concentrations are altered Permeability increases with age Prefrontal cortex activation during learning is reduced Prolongation of calcium signals in nerve cells Reaction time for a visually paced simple motor task increases with age Receptor expression alterations Reduced hippocampal activity and functional connectivity in tests for verbal familiarity Selective increase in oxidative damage and decrease in antioxidant function during aging in the substantia nigra Sensitivity of HPA axis is impaired Synaptic density slightly decreases at advanced ages Viscoelastic modulus of brain tissue decreases White matter volume decreases

Psychological (22) View on results page

Ability to acquire motor skills decreases Activation threshold for long-term potentiation is increased Altered sleep parameters and patterns Balance decreases Cognitive decline Cognitive deficits Cognitive executive functions decline Cognitive processing speed decreased Earlier sleep and wake time Exploratory behavior is decreased Increased reliance on vision to control balance Learning impairment as assessed by contextual cuing Memory consolidation is impaired Memory impairment Mild cognitive impairment incidence increases No clear changes in anxiety but decrease in ambulation Reaction time slowing in tasks with conflict between visual stimulus and required motor response Reduction in episodic, working and long-term memory Speech production problems Variability of performance for multiple cognitive tasks increases Verbal memory declines Visual memory declines

Molecular (6; 652 in total) View on results page

Changes from high-throughput approaches are excluded but can be viewed on the results page.

5-hmC increase in cerebrellum Alox5 arachidonate 5-lipoxygenase (5-LOX) mRNA expression increase Alox5 arachidonate 5-lipoxygenase (5-LOX) promoter methylation increase efflux pump activity decreases MTHFR methylation decrease transporter activity decreases

Pathological (7) View on results page

Acute rheumatic fever and chronic rheumatic heart diseases Alzheimer's disease Mental Health (psychological distress) (Female) Mental Health (psychological distress) (Male) Stroke Stroke (Female) Stroke (Male)