SOME FRESH RESEARCH ABOUT BRAIN CELLS
Recently, research ran in Spain by a group of scientists.
The research was on brain tissues donated by 13
individuals who died aged 43 to 87, who were healthy
before their deaths. It was found that between the ages
of 40 and 70, the number of fresh neurons being made
fell from about 40000 to 30000 per cubic millimeter. The
new fresh cells are produced in a part of the brain called
the dentate gyrus, which is part of the hippocampus.
Memory, mood, and emotion are some of the things
that hippocampus controls.
While many scientists agree with the results, some
scientists disagree. Their reason is that different tests
and tissues give different results. The scientists then
analyzed brain tissues from 45 patients aged 52 to 97
who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease
before their death. It was seen that although they had
fresh brain cells in their dentate gyrus, not all of the cells
were healthy ones. Patients with Alzheimer were also
shown to only have between half and three quarters as
many fresh neurons as people without Alzheimer's. This
showed that that in healthy people’s brains there are
more fresh neurons than patients with Alzheimer's.
As research now indicates, the difference between a
healthy person and a patient with Alzheimer's can be
shown by monitoring the number of fresh brain cells
being made. A brain scan can help to identify Alzheimer's
disease at an earlier age and before it has taken hold too
much, a patient can be diagnosed as having the disease.
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THE CLAPPER 2018 - 2019
Caption to go with image : This microscopic view shows tissue
from the dentate gyrus, part of the hippocampus, of a man who
died at 68. He had a healthy brain at the time of his death. In
the image, fresh brain cells are in red and mature ones in blue.
Photograph: CSIC via Nature
References
Sample, I. (2019, March 25). Humans can make new
brain cells into their 90s, scientists discover. Retrieved
from The Guardian Newspaper: https://www.
theguardian.com/science/2019/mar/25/humans-can-
make-new-brain-cels-into-their-90s-scientists-discover
Ahmet Fatih ZEGEREK
9-A