Plasticity after brain lesions: contemporary concepts.

Medical management of the patient with central nervous tissue injuries has many frontiers. We now realize that the concept of the adult mammalian brain as largely static is no longer tenable. Numerous studies show that experimental manipulations can lead to growth and plasticity in the adult brain. We have confirmed that growth and plasticity, including neurogenesis and synaptogenesis, can also occur throughout the animal's natural life. New approaches may soon be designed to repopulate injured nervous tissue with appropriate cells. Surgical neural tissue transplantation research is one direction. Another approach involves the inherent plasticity of the nervous system, including neurogenesis, which may be modulated by the rehabilitation plan (the environment) with a variety of possible pharmacological approaches.