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Neuroscience Flashcards

7 cards from real NBME practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.

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  1. A 68-year-old patient suddenly develops contralateral face, arm, and leg weakness with gaze deviation toward the side of the lesion. Which artery is most likely occluded?

    Answer: Middle cerebral artery (proximal/M1)

    Proximal MCA occlusion causes contralateral hemiplegia (face, arm > leg), hemisensory loss, ipsilateral gaze deviation (eyes deviate toward lesion due to frontal eye field destruction), and aphasia if dominant hemisphere.

  2. Which neurotransmitter system shows the most significant deficit in Alzheimer's disease, and which brain region shows early loss of these neurons?

    Answer: Acetylcholine; nucleus basalis of Meynert

    Alzheimer's disease is associated with early loss of cholinergic neurons in the nucleus basalis of Meynert (basal forebrain), contributing to memory and cognitive deficits.

  3. A patient with temporal lobe epilepsy most likely presents with which type of seizure?

    Answer: Complex partial seizures with automatisms and postictal confusion

    Temporal lobe (mesial) epilepsy classically produces complex partial seizures with an aura (often déjà vu or epigastric rising), automatisms (lip smacking, picking), and postictal confusion.

  4. Optic neuritis presenting as painful unilateral vision loss with a central scotoma in a young woman, which later partially resolves, is most suggestive of which diagnosis?

    Answer: Multiple sclerosis

    Optic neuritis is the presenting symptom in ~25% of MS cases; it is typically painful, unilateral, partially reversible, and associated with a relative afferent pupillary defect (Marcus Gunn pupil).

  5. Degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta leads to which movement disorder, and what is the classic triad?

    Answer: Parkinson's disease; resting tremor, rigidity, bradykinesia

    Loss of SNpc dopaminergic neurons causes Parkinson's disease, characterized by resting pill-rolling tremor, cogwheel rigidity, and bradykinesia (plus postural instability).

  6. Neuronal loss in the caudate nucleus with expanded CAG trinucleotide repeat inheritance causes which disorder?

    Answer: Huntington's disease

    Huntington's disease is caused by an autosomal dominant CAG repeat expansion in the HTT gene, leading to caudate and putamen degeneration with chorea, dementia, and psychiatric symptoms.

  7. A 35-year-old woman presents with ptosis and diplopia worse at the end of the day that improves after rest and with edrophonium (Tensilon) test. Antibodies against which target are most likely positive?

    Answer: Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (AChR) at the NMJ

    Myasthenia gravis is caused by autoantibodies against postsynaptic nicotinic AChRs, reducing functional receptors and causing fatigable weakness that improves with acetylcholinesterase inhibitors.