Scientists comment on the mechanism of "neurogenesis" that can brain cells even after becoming an adult

ByAllan Ajifo

"Human brain composing"Neuron(Nerve cells) "by sending electric signals to exchange information enables advanced information processing such as cognition, exercise, emotion, memory and learning. It is said that there are hundreds of billions of nerve cells in the brain and it was thought that "nerve cells will continue to decrease when becoming adults". However, even after becoming an adult, new neurons are born in the brain "NeurogenesisThe phenomenon "happens", which can be controlled by human actions.

Sandrine Thuret: You can grow new brain cells. Here's how | TED Talk | TED.com
https://www.ted.com/talks/sandrine_thuret_you_can_grow_new_brain_cells_here_s_how/

Sandrin Chure, a neuroscientist at King's College London, explains the mechanism of "neurogenesis" that produces brain neurons even after becoming an adult. The content I told at TED is published on YouTube.

You Can Grow New Brain Cells. Here's How | Sandrine Thuret | TED Talks - YouTube


Can you grow up nerve cells as adults?


Mr. Chure received a consultation from Mr. Robert, a cancer specialist of an acquaintance, that "Sandrin, this is a mysterious story but some of my patients are depressed despite recovering from cancer" There seems to be things. At this time Mr. Chure said "From my point of view, it seems to be very natural, as long as the anticancer drug you handed to the patient has been suppressed newly in the brain instead of deterring cancer cells from increasing, Mr. Robert said "Even sandrin, all the patients were adults, new neurons do not grow in the adult brain ....". He said he responded.

Even physicians believe that "When you grow into an adult, neurons will not be produced", but in reality, new nerve cells are born even in adult brains. This is a phenomenon called "Neurogenesis" (neurogenesis).


Mr. Robert was not a neuroscientist but a doctor and there was never taught that "even in adult brains new neurons are generated". So it seems that he seemed interested in the contents of Mr. Chure, so he came to Mr. Chure 's laboratory and wanted to know about neurogenesis.

This "neurogenesis" has a close relationship with the hippocampus of the brain. The gray part of the following image is known as a part of the hippocampus of the brain that has a deep involvement with learning, memory, mood, emotion and so on. Recent studies have revealed that this hippocampus has the function of "acting as a unique mechanism in the brain of adults and creating new neurons".


After slicing the hippocampus and enlarging it is as follows and it seems that it is a nerve cell born by "neurogenesis" after the blue line became an adult.


Jonas Frysen, an acquaintance of Mr. Chure and working at the Karolinska Institute, speculates that "human beings generate 700 new neurons per day in the hippocampus". Because the number of human nerve cells is said to be hundreds or hundreds of billions of brain cells, you may think that "not so much". However, at the age of 50, the neurons of the brain can be replaced with what they had when they were born.


By the way, why "Why are new neurons important? What are the functions of nerve cells in the first place?"


It is well known that neurons play an important role in "learning" and "memory". In addition, Mr. Chure said in his research he discovered that "If the hippocampus blocks the function so that it can not generate new neurons, certain memories are blocked as well".


Mr. Chure said, "We are currently conducting research on nerve cells, but it has been found that neurons are deeply involved not only in memory capacity but also in memory quality, and neurons maintain their memory It is also useful for distinguishing between time and similar memories, "For example, you can find out where" your bicycle is located "in a parking lot where it looks like What we can do is because neurons play an important role in spatial recognition.


Also, when Mr. Robert conducted research on neurogenesis and depression, it turned out that experimental animals of depression produce less nerve cells than usual. Furthermore, it was also confirmed that depression medicine was administered to this experimental animal, it was confirmed that neurogenesis became active, and thereafter signs of depression were reduced. In other words, it turned out that there was a clear connection between neurogenesis and depression. Therefore, Mr. Robert seems to have noticed that his patient suffered from depression despite healing from cancer, because the anticancer drug had blocked neurogenesis.


Next, on the question "Is neurogenesis controllable?" The answer is "yes", it is possible to artificially control neurogenesis.


Actually, studies, sex and running activate neurogenesis, and in contrast studies show that stress, sleep deprivation and aging inactivate neurogenesis.


The picture below is a picture of the hippocampus of a mouse for experiments. A black dot is a neuron newly born by neurogenesis, the picture on the left shows the number of neurons of the rat which placed the turning car, while the picture on the left shows the number of rats who did not install the car, turning into the cage. Mice in the basket in which the wheel is installed have far more neurons (generated by neurogenesis), which shows how running is closely related to neurogenesis.


In other words, exercise has a close relationship with neurogenesis. However, things that are related to neurogenesis are not limited to exercise. "What you eat" can also have a strong effect on neurogenesis.

In the following character group, letters enclosed in white are "those that activate neurogenesis", those not surrounded are "those that inactivate neurogenesis". For example, there are "calorie restriction on the order of 20 to 30%", "intermittent fasting (keeping the sense of the meal at regular intervals)" "ingesting flavonoids contained in dark chocolate", "blue fish and green yellow vegetables, legumes Ingesting omega-3 fatty acids that can be ingested by others "activates neurogenesis, on the contrary," intake of a large amount of saturated fatty acids "and" ingesting ethanol "inactivate neurogenesis. In addition, "resveratrol" of anticancer substances contained in grapes, berries such as blueberry · cranberry, wine etc. has the effect of prolonging survival time of newly born nerve cells.


Another research group in Japan examined the relationship between food texture and neurogenesis, "soft diet" inactivates neurogenesis, meals such as "chewing" or burrigary foods are neurogenesis It has become clear that it promotes.


Although it is obvious that running is effective for neurogenesis at the present time, it is unclear what other exercise is effective. However, it is thought that the movement of blood to the brain by exercise is affecting.