What is the Difference Between Gliosis and Encephalomalacia

The key difference between gliosis and encephalomalacia is that gliosis is a brain condition that involves the proliferation or hypertrophy of several different types of glial cells, while encephalomalacia is a brain condition that involves the softening or loss of brain tissue.

There are different types of conditions that affect the brain. These include Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, brain cancer, epilepsy and other seizures, mental disorders, Parkinson’s and other movement disorders, transient ischemic attack (TIA), gliosis, and encephalomalacia. Gliosis and encephalomalacia are two different brain conditions. Both these brain conditions can be caused by central nervous system damage or injuries.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Gliosis  
3. What is Encephalomalacia
4. Similarities – Gliosis and Encephalomalacia
5. Gliosis vs Encephalomalacia in Tabular Form
6. Summary – Gliosis vs Encephalomalacia

What is Gliosis?

Gliosis is a brain condition that causes a nonspecific reactive change of glial cells in response to damage to the central nervous system. This condition involves the proliferation or hypertrophy of several types of glial cells, including astrocytes, microglia, and oligodendrocytes. In the extreme form of gliosis, this proliferation leads to the formation of a glial scar. Gliosis has a series of cellular and molecular events that occur for several days. It has three main steps; they are microgliosis (migration of macrophages and local microglia to the injury site), remyelination (recruiting oligodendrocyte precursor cells to the injury site), and astrogliosis  (proliferation of surrounding astrocytes).

Gliosis is a condition that has been shown to have both beneficial and detrimental effects. The beneficial effects may include neuroprotective effects, maintenance of the extracellular environment, restoration of the blood-brain barrier, seclusion of the injury site, and containment of infection from healthy brain tissue. On the other hand, the detrimental effects may include restriction of axon regeneration, secretion of neurotoxic substances such as pro-inflammatory and cytotoxic cytokines, releasing of excitotoxic glutamate, and prohibiting of functional recovery and worsening of clinical signs.

Negative gliosis can cause symptoms such as depression, hallucinations, memory loss impairment, personality changes, seizures, and trouble with cognitive function. Gliosis is diagnosed through physical signs, brain MRI, and CT scan. Moreover, negative gliosis can be treated through shrinking gliosis scarring and stopping necrosis from improving brain function. Furthermore, gliosis is associated with other medical conditions such as trauma, ischemia, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease,  multiple sclerosis, AIDS dementia complex, Parkinson’s disease,  and Huntington’s disease.

What is Encephalomalacia?

Encephalomalacia is a brain condition that has cerebral softening. It is also known as the localized softening of the substance of the brain due to bleeding or inflammation. Encephalomalacia can be caused by stroke, ischemia, haemorrhage, trauma, neoplasm, infection, inflammation, and numerous other injuries to the brain. There are three main types of encephalomalacia: red, yellow, and white softening, distinguished by their colour. Moreover, the symptoms of encephalomalacia may include extreme drowsiness, wobbliness or lack of movement, temporary or permanent blindness, vertigo, severe headache, head pressing, and terminal coma.

Encephalomalacia can be diagnosed through radiography and imaging finding such as MRI and CT scans. Furthermore, treatment options for encephalomalacia may include managing the underlying cause of the condition and surgery, which may be performed to remove the part of the brain affected by the softening.

What are the Similarities Between Gliosis and Encephalomalacia?

• Gliosis and encephalomalacia are two different brain conditions.
• Both these brain conditions can be caused by CNS damage or injuries.
• Both these conditions can affect cognitive function.
• They can be diagnosed through brain imaging.
• They are treated through surgeries.

What is the Difference Between Gliosis and Encephalomalacia?

Gliosis is a brain condition that involves the proliferation or hypertrophy of several different types of glial cells, while encephalomalacia is a brain condition that involves softening or loss of brain tissue. Thus, this is the key difference between gliosis and encephalomalacia. Furthermore, gliosis has both beneficial and detrimental effects, while encephalomalacia has only detrimental effects.

The below infographic presents the differences between gliosis and encephalomalacia in tabular form for side-by-side comparison.

Summary – Gliosis vs Encephalomalacia

Brain conditions come in different forms. Gliosis and encephalomalacia are two different brain conditions. Gliosis has both beneficial and detrimental effects. On the other hand, encephalomalacia has only detrimental effects. Moreover, gliosis happens due to the proliferation or hypertrophy of several different types of glial cells, while encephalomalacia occurs due to the softening or loss of brain tissue. So, this summarizes the difference between gliosis and encephalomalacia.

Reference:

1. “Gliosis – An Overview.” ScienceDirect Topics.
2. Karaman E; Isildak H; Yilmaz M; Enver O; Albayram S; “Encephalomalacia in the Frontal Lobe: Complication of the Endoscopic Sinus Surgery.” The Journal of Craniofacial Surgery.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Bergmann gliosis – high mag” By Nephron – Own work (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Enhanced Brain MRI of a 6 years 11 months old male patient with CFD” By Ciliu Zhang, Xiaolu Deng, Yafei Wen, Fang He, Fei Yin & Jing Peng – Bmcmedgenet  (CC BY 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia