[HN Gopher] Healing the brain: hydrogels enable neuronal tissue ...
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Healing the brain: hydrogels enable neuronal tissue growth
Author : Tschayba
Score : 129 points
Date : 2023-03-01 08:39 UTC (14 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.alphagalileo.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.alphagalileo.org)
| Retric wrote:
| TLDR: "They used hydrogel materials, in combination with neural
| stem cells, to grow new brain tissue."
|
| The hydrogel for scaffolding it doesn't promote neuronal growth
| on its own. Still quite promising.
| wincy wrote:
| What would happen if we took a pill and grew a ton of extra
| neurons in our digestive system? We've got about 100 million
| neurons in our gut, which is comparable to a duck. I feel like
| it'd probably just be weird.
| readthenotes1 wrote:
| Don't we already have a ton of neurons in our digestive system?
|
| I believe they are the ones that give us the voice in the back
| of our head that says that yes we can buy that entire box of
| popsicles and not eat but one at a time.
| mcbits wrote:
| I think those neurons are what give me an icky feeling every
| time I eat certain things that have been associated with
| getting sick in the past, even though the foods aren't what
| made me sick.
| patrakov wrote:
| Well, the tissue grows, but the big question (not answered in the
| summary) still is: does it work?
| jlpom wrote:
| This is cool but I don't see neural stem cells grafting and this
| hydrogel have clinical applications in humans, because the brain
| is very difficult to access, even via the CSF (diffusion is very
| limited), without very invasive way like trepanation.
|
| I think a more realistic clinical approach is astrocytes to
| neurons reprogramming using vectors like AAV9 to pass the blood
| brain barrier and activate genes to convert them [1] to different
| types based on the genes (NGN2: glutamatergic, ASCL1: GABAergic,
| dopaminergic, cholinergic...). This has the added benefit of
| reduced cancer risk (direct reprogramming) and astrocytes have a
| regional identity [2].
|
| [1]: https://www.embopress.org/doi/full/10.15252/emmm.202114797
| [2]: https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/sciadv.abe8978
| derefr wrote:
| > because the brain is nearly inaccesible, even via the CSF
| (diffusion is very limited), without very invasive way like
| trepanation.
|
| If transorbital lobotomy is possible, presumably transorbital
| endoscopic hydrogel injection would also be possible, no?
|
| Also, what about "going in through the out door" -- entering
| the lymphatic system at the neck, and then endoscoping up into
| the brain's glymphatic channels, and further back into the
| brain itself?
| Rastonbury wrote:
| What about neurons/nerves in the spine or eye?
| moremetadata wrote:
| I'll stick with my mega doses of algal oil derived omega-3s
| they are not so fishy in taste or burps.
|
| Of all the tissues in the body, retina contains the highest
| concentration of the omega-3 fatty acid (FA), docosahexaenoic
| acid (DHA). Up to 60% of the total FA in rod outer segment
| membrane phospholipids is DHA [1]. If you suffer from night
| blindness something that happens as we age, DHA improves the
| ability to see in low light conditions. [2]
|
| The brain has the second highest lipid content behind adipose
| tissue, and brain lipids constitute 50% of the brain dry
| weight [3]. DHA makes up over 90% of the n-3 PUFAs in the
| brain and 10%-20% of its total lipids. DHA is especially
| concentrated in the gray matter [4]
|
| After a 6month study researchers found DHA levels had
| increased by 200% with the spinal fluid content only
| increasing by 28% [5]. This study also didnt look at the
| effect of tyrosine in the substantia nigra which besides
| increasing the pheomelanin and eumelanin, that area of the
| brain also acts an antioxidant or filter for metals in the
| brain. [6]
|
| What is ignored with omega 3 is the role it plays with
| neutrophils, if you have a lot of pathogens, your neutrophil
| numbers will go up which will reduce the amount of omega-3's
| which can go to the brain, because Omega-3 supplementation
| increases the EPA+DHA content of neutrophil membranes [7]
| which improves their function at sensing pathogens and
| interactive with other parts of the immune system.
| [8,9,10,11] especially when considering todays levels of air
| pollution from things like fossil fuels.
|
| I'd also increase choline content for the brain [12] and
| alveoli gas exchange which improves physical performance and
| recovery rates. Some consider Choline should be consider
| essential nutrition, [13] but chemo brain fog, covid brain
| fog and baby brain pregnancy fog are all considered to be a
| deficiency in choline, and whilst the connections between
| neurons disappear, a stump is left on the neuron so when
| enough choline enters the diet, the connections can reform
| and you can get your memories back.
|
| [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7601701/#:~:
| tex....
|
| [2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3206354/
|
| [3] https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fendo.2017.0
| 006....
|
| [4] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4772061/#:~:
| tex....
|
| [5]
| https://www.nutraingredients.com/Article/2020/07/27/Pilot-
| st...
|
| [6] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S03
| 043...
|
| [7] https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.10.22.212646
| 56v...
|
| [8]
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=438EovW4tzs&ab_channel=NIAID
|
| [9] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4KJDIcx03
|
| [10] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_xh-bkiv_c
|
| [11] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muoXWTv2QRw&ab_channel=H
| einr...
|
| [12] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6585560/#:~
| :tex....
|
| [13] https://lpi.oregonstate.edu/mic/other-nutrients/choline
| jlpom wrote:
| Spine: intrathecal or systemic via AAV9 (eg. Zolgensma)
| injection ; Eye: don't know
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