Abolishing brain cells

molliebatmit
Tue, 17 Jun 2008 19:43:43 +0000

(I don’t know if I qualify as a top neuroscientist, but I am a graduate student in a developmental/regenerative neurobiology lab. :))

X-rays and other forms of radiation kill dividing stem cells in the brain, thus slowing the regeneration process.

Incidentally, only a very small number of neurons actually regenerate in the adult mammalian brain – only cells in the dentate gyrus (which is part of the hippocampus, a brain structure involved with memory) and the olfactory bulb regenerate in adults. Otherwise, you’re stuck with what you’re born with, and nothing is regenerated.

But there are a lot of possible ways to kill neurons – neurons are big, complex cells that require a lot of energy to function. They are very susceptible to injury and degeneration (e.g. Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s disease, Lou Gehrig’s disease, stroke, spinal cord injury, etc.). My lab, among many others, is trying to find out how neurons normally develop and grow so that hopefully someday we can treat these otherwise intractable diseases and conditions.