Research on the practice of massaging the head of a baby with hot water and ointments in Ghana. By Dzamesi Yael (Ph.D. in Science Education)
Cellular changes in the nerve cells of the brain under hyperthermia.
When the temperature of the brain rises above 38.5 degrees Celsius physiological changes start happening. As the period of exposure to the heat is longer, and or the temperature is higher, the damage is greater, and it tends to remain permanent. Here are some of the cellular injuries of a nerve cell in the brain that were recorded in experiment of young rats exposed to heat of 36 degrees Celsius for 4 hours [13, 41], (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Damaged nerve cell under hyperthermia.
1. Damage to the myelin sheaths around the axon, because of reduction in the Myelin protein.
2. Swelling neurons especially in the area of the axon, as result of entrance of water because of the destruction of the myelin sheaths that cover the axon.
3. Damage to both pre- and post-synaptic membranes. It means that the neurotransmitters may not be released properly, and if they would be released the receptors in the post-synaptic area will not be able to bind them. No action potential will happen in the dendrite of the next neuron.
4. Swollen synapses would make it difficult for the neurotransmitters to travel from the pre-synapse side to the post-synapse side.
Any of these damages would result in the disturbance of the electrical chemical transmission of information through the axon, synapse, and into the dendrite of the next nerve cell. Disturbance in the transmission of information will cause impairments in the cognition processes.
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