Legendary
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Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Somewhere near here
Posts: 11,427
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Legendary
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Somewhere near here
Posts: 11,427
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This fund raising campaign ended April 30, 2015.
As promising as this sounds, just growing new neurons does not heal our brains. Those neurons need to properly differentiate. There are 4000 different types of neurons. They will then need to form functional networks. Axon to dendrite networking is a slow and haphazard process. Neuroplasticity is based on developing new networks using existing brain cells. It takes a lot of time and work to do this, especially when some of the neural cells are working at reduced levels. It can take many months to years of work.
There has already been successful research into using autologous stems cells (from the patient) that can differentiate into neural cells.
The more promising research is targeted at dealing with the formation of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles that lead to deterioration.
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