• Question: Whats the most fragile part of the brain?

    Asked by anon-249882 to Ioana on 4 Mar 2020.
    • Photo: Ioana Grigoras

      Ioana Grigoras answered on 4 Mar 2020:

      Hi! It depends what you think of as fragility, as different parts can be more vulnerable than others to different conditions.

      For example, the motor cortex (the bit of the brain which controls movement) has some big neurons in one of its layers. These neurons, because or their large size, require large amounts of energy to stay alive. If the blood flow to be brain is interrupted by any reason, these neurons and, therefore, this part of the brain will be more vulnerable.

      There is another structure, deeper inside the brain, called the basal ganglia. This structure is connected with a lot of other parts of the brain and it is controlling voluntary movements. This structure also requires large amounts of energy and is vulnerable when it does not get enough oxygen.

      Out of all the parts of the brain, the frontal lobe (the part just under your forehead) is the most vulnerable to traumatic events. On the other hand, the brain is protected by the skull, but in case of a trauma, the spinal cord (still part of the nervous system) would be more vulnerable to that.

      Hope that answers your great question!

Comments

  • Photo: Paige

    Paige commented on :

    I would argue that the brain stem is the ‘most fragile’, because if you damage it, it can kill you.
    However, your brain is also very plastic. That means that if a part of your brain is removed or damaged, often the brain can re-wire itself and modify structures to compensate. There are people who were born with huge parts of the brain missing, and they never even knew until they had a brain scan!