[RP] Got to read! - HOW THE BRAIN REPAIRS ITSELF

[Guest guest]

This might be help for us, our family members, friends and will look for their findings. It is good reading and offers us some more hope. Slowly but surely we will get there and what a celebration that will.

Love ya

Sally

UCLA Neuroscientists First To Show That Adult Brains Turn Back Developmental

Clock To Repair Damage

A new study by UCLA neuroscientists shows for the first time that a unique

pattern of cellular activity found in early brain development also triggers

repairs to damaged adult brains. The findings, appearing in the July 15

edition of the peer-reviewed Journal of Neuroscience, hold implications for

treating brain damage caused by stroke and other disorders.

Researchers in the Department of Neurology and Brain Research Institute at

UCLA used rat models to show how cells in brains damaged with stroke-like

lesions, caused by interruption of blood flow, develop slow synchronous

activity. This activity triggers cells to sprout new connections into areas

of the brain disconnected by the lesion.

"Our research shows for the first time that this activity works to trigger

repairs in adult brains," said Dr. Marie-Francoise Chesselet, professor of

neurology at the Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and study

co-author. "Previously this activity has been identified as a key component

of brain development."

Scientists and clinicians had recognized this pattern of activity for many

years after brain injury in humans, but its function remained unknown. This

new research suggests that these cellular rhythms may be signaling a repair

process in the human brain after injury.

"On its own, a damaged brain has a limited ability to repair itself.

Recovery is partial," said Dr. S. Carmichael, assistant professor of

neurology at UCLA and study co-author. "A better understanding of how the

brain recovers from injury will allow us to manipulate the repair process

and to maximize recovery from brain damage caused by stroke and other

disorders."

The researchers made their discovery using a model of brain injury that

allowed them to isolate signals specific to the sprouting of new connections

from other changes that occur because of damage. They then measured the

frequency, power and synchroneity of brain activity in a model that induced

sprouting and compared to another that did not. The researchers also found

that blocking the brain rhythms blocked sprouting as well.

The research was supported by a Medical Institute

Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship for Physicians, held by Carmichael at the

time of the study, and by a National Institutes of Health grant.