Avaliação neuropsicológica de crianças com hemiparesia congênita e adquirida--resultados preliminares / Neuropsicologic evaluation of children with congenital and acquired hemyparesis--early results

PURPOSE: To present the preliminary results of neuropsychological assessment for children with congenital and acquired hemiparesis with or not seizures. METHODS: Nine children at a age of 5 and 14 years old, were studied individually by one battery of test to neuropsychological assessment of cognitive function, language, gnosia, praxia visuo-motor and memory processing and emotional aspect. RESULTS: Children with hemiparesis demonstrated minimal or severe cognitive dysfuctions, impaired language abilities, poor visuo-motor and memory processing and alteration in emotional aspect. Acquired hemiparesis with seizures in childhood had a severe cognitive deficits, but congenital hemiparesis with or not seizures the neuropsychological assessment demonstrate minimal or moderate cortical deficits. CONCLUSIONS: Theses preliminary results demonstrated that congenital or acquired hemiparesis associated or not with seizures present cortical dysfuctions. The worst results was observed in acquired hemiparesis with epileptic seizures.

Behavioral effects of neurotensin applied to periventricular structures of rats

Neurotensin (NT), n active neuropeptide, and bicuculline, a GABA-A receptor antagonist, were microinjected into the rat hypothalaamus (MH) or the dorsal periaqueductal gray matter (DPAG). Bicuculline (80 pmol) produced behavioral activation which included jumping and NT (1-20 nmol) caused a dose-dependent behavioral activation accompanied by catalepsy rather than jumping. These results suggest that the behavioral activation produced by NT may be due to an interaction of the neuropeptide with specific receptors while its cataleptic effect may be attributed to the blockade of dopamine receptors