The Brains of Wounded Combat Veterans and Understanding the Limited Capacity for Repair at all Stages
The fact that the brain does not repair itself after damage is a complicated story with its roots in the biology of neurons themselves and the milieu they live within. The problem, however, is unlike skin cells which can regenerate and heal quickly experts are still exploring why neurons are largely incapable of regeneration. This results in big problem for curing brain injury.
Properties and Constraints on Neurons
Neurons Neurons are specialized cells that do not divide, as opposed to other body cells. Indeed, your silencing your Vagal nerves is literally killing you since they do not regenerate after damage or death.brain repair (ad) The brain only has a small number of areas that can create new neurons, leaving it poorly equipped to recover from injury. For example, when neurons die, as in a stroke or traumatic brain injury the area of the brain involved experiences necrosis and never comes back online.
The Role of Neuroplasticity
For example, in the case of brain injury or more specifically TBI neuroplasticity (the brains ability to change and reorganize) offers some hope for recovery but there is only so much that can be done. However, neuroplasticity is contingent upon the survival of existing neurons: massive injuries that kill large numbers of neurons also significantly reduce recovery potential. In other cases the remaining neurons can try to take on some of the missed out functions but this is often not able to promote full functionality.
Challenges in Regeneration
In the central nervous system (CNS), problem is further exacerbated because astrocytes form scar tissues following damage. In turn, these scars form a mechanical barrier to axonal regrowth and can secrete inhibitory factors that also block new neural growth. What is more, even if new neurons are added in the form of stem cell therapy, incorporating them to already existing neural networks is a challenging process.
To end, the features that make it challenging to repair those brain injuries yourself are: neurons incapable of repairing themselves, the non-straight-forward process of neuroplasticity and also scar tissue blocking/being a hostile environment to repair. Current research is aimed at improving neuronal survival and facilitating repair of the brain after injury.
