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More brain research suggests
February 07, 2008Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) scientists have found another important clue to why nerve cells die in neurodegenerative diseases, based on studies of the developing brain.
Neuroscientists at The University of Queensland have just published findings, which add more weight to the "use it or lose it" model for brain function.
QBI's Dr Elizabeth Coulson said a baby's brain generates roughly double the number of nerve cells it needs to function; with those cells that receive both chemical and electrical stimuli surviving, and the remaining cells dying.
In research published in the "Journal of Neuroscience", Dr Coulson and her colleagues have identified a crucial step in the cell-death process.
"It appears that if a cell is not appropriately stimulated by other cells, it self-destructs," Dr Coulson said.
This self-destruct process is also known to be an important factor in stroke, Alzheimer's and motor neuron diseases, leading to the loss of essential nerve cells from the adult brain.
"We know that a lack of both chemical and electrical stimuli causes the cells to self-destruct," Dr Coulson said.
"But we believe that nerve cells will survive if appropriate electrical stimuli are produced to block the self-destruct process that we have identified."
The researchers' next step is to test whether dying cells receiving only electrical stimulation can be rescued.
More than three years' research has gone into understanding these crucial factors regulating nerve cell survival, but it is a major step in the long process of discovery needed to combat neurodegeneration.
QBI Director, Professor Perry Bartlett said the research is an extremely exciting finding because it also provides the missing piece of information as to how the brain likely keeps alive the new neurons it generates in some brain areas as an adult.
"Combining this with our knowledge of how to stimulate new neurons in the brain of adults following to disease processes such as stroke, it provides new mechanisms for the treatment of a variety of diseases from depression to dementia," he said.
Research Australia
In research published in the "Journal of Neuroscience", Dr Coulson and her colleagues have identified a crucial step in the cell-death process.
"It appears that if a cell is not appropriately stimulated by other cells, it self-destructs," Dr Coulson said.
This self-destruct process is also known to be an important factor in stroke, Alzheimer's and motor neuron diseases, leading to the loss of essential nerve cells from the adult brain.
"We know that a lack of both chemical and electrical stimuli causes the cells to self-destruct," Dr Coulson said.
"But we believe that nerve cells will survive if appropriate electrical stimuli are produced to block the self-destruct process that we have identified."
The researchers' next step is to test whether dying cells receiving only electrical stimulation can be rescued.
More than three years' research has gone into understanding these crucial factors regulating nerve cell survival, but it is a major step in the long process of discovery needed to combat neurodegeneration.
QBI Director, Professor Perry Bartlett said the research is an extremely exciting finding because it also provides the missing piece of information as to how the brain likely keeps alive the new neurons it generates in some brain areas as an adult.
"Combining this with our knowledge of how to stimulate new neurons in the brain of adults following to disease processes such as stroke, it provides new mechanisms for the treatment of a variety of diseases from depression to dementia," he said.
Research Australia
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Cognitive dysfunction reversed in mouse model of Down syndrome
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Researchers find potential treatment for Huntington's disease
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Novel mouse gene reduces major pathologies associated with Alzheimer's disease
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Mouse gene suppresses Alzheimer's plaques and tangles
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Caltech researchers show efficacy of gene therapy in mouse models of Huntington's disease
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Inhibitor of heat shock protein is a potential anticancer drug, Penn study finds
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Widely used cholesterol-lowering drug may prevent progression
Simvastatin, a commonly used, cholesterol-lowering drug, may prevent Parkinson's disease from progressing further. Neurological researchers at Rush University Medical Center conducted a study examining the use of the FDA-approved medication in mice with Parkinson's disease and found that the drug successfully reverses the biochemical, cellular and anatomical changes caused by the disease.
Member of NFL Hall of Fame diagnosed with degenerative brain disease
The Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy (CSTE) at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) announced today that a recently deceased member of the NFL Hall of Fame suffered from the degenerative brain disease Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) when he died, becoming the 10th former NFL player diagnosed with the disease.
Trembling hands and molecular handshakes
Fragile X tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS) is a recently recognized condition, which is actually one of the most prevalent heritable neurodegenerative diseases.
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