New Delhi, Nov 18 (ANI): In a recent study, biologists discovered how head injuries adversely affect individual cells and genes that can lead to serious brain disorders. The researchers studied more than 6,000 cells in 15 hippocampal cell types — the first study of individual cell types subject to brain trauma. Each cell has the same DNA, but which genes are activated varies among different cell types. Among the 15 cell types are two that were previously unknown, each with a unique set of active genes. The life scientists provide the first cell ‘atlas’ of the hippocampus — the part of the brain that helps regulate learning and memory — when it is affected by traumatic brain injury. The team also proposed gene candidates for treating brain diseases associated with traumatic brain injuries, such as Alzheimer’s disease and post-traumatic stress disorder. The biologists found that hundreds of genes are adversely affected by mild traumatic brain injury, such as a concussion. These altered genes can later lead to Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other diseases. The researchers reproduced a concussion-like brain injury in mice and studied other mice that did not receive a brain injury. The researchers analysed thousands of cells in the hippocampus of both groups of mice. Researchers found evidence that at least 12 of 15 cell types are negatively affected by brain trauma, some more strongly than others.
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