Development Of Treatments For Brain Disorders - 1516 Words

Development of treatments for brain disorders has always been a problematic issue due to the lack of knowledge and information on the physiology and mechanisms of many of these disorders (Stoeckel, 2014, p. 245). Various diseases, especially the lethal ones such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease, have many unanswered questions and vast gaps to be filled at the biological level that are critical in formulating treatments for each disease (Stoeckel, 2014, p. 246). As a result, the development of novel, safe and effective treatments is very slow, and much more research is required to uncover the physiological underpinnings of these diseases. However, recent advancements in brain imaging studies have presented promising results that†¦show more content†¦332). This paper will introduce rtfMRI as an innovative method for treating brain disorders by discussing the collective evidence of its potential in clinical application and neurotherapeutics from various studies, its benefits, and future research to improve rtfMRI technology as treatment. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has revolutionized the field of neuroscience by allowing researchers to study the human brain with high-resolution recordings of indirect measures of brain activity known as the blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) response, in a non-invasive and inexpensive manner. fMRI is based on the principle that neural activity involved in brain functioning during tasks like memorizing a phone number or remembering a face is coupled to changes in cerebral blood flow and metabolism. BOLD is a contrast mechanism that reflects a complex interaction between cerebral blood flow (CBF), volume and its transport of oxygen to brain cells. When a specific region of the brain increases its activity in response to a task, brain cells in that region require more oxygen for the increased metabolic activity, thus extracting oxygen from the heme-group or iron that binds oxygen in the blood and causing an increase in CBF to deliver more oxygenated