I watched a very interesting TEDTalk titled, "Can the damaged brain repair itself?" It was given by Doctor Siddharthan Chandran who is a regenerative neurologist. We learned about neuroplasticity in class and how it was thought for a long time that the brain could not repair itself, that once part of function was lost it can't be recovered. That is no longer true and research has shown that the brain can compensate and form new synaptic connections after a trauma that causes damage to the brain, such as a TBI. So Dr. Chandran spoke about why is this true for some types of damage to the brain, but not true for motor neuron diseases. He said that at any one time there are as many as 35 million people living with diseases that affect you on a neurological level. Diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's Disease, Huntington's Disease, Alzheimer's Disease, and Amyotrophic Multiple Sclerosis. Many of these diseases don't have cures and lead to loss of muscle and sensory function. Dr. Chandran is dissapointed in the lack or research for cures to these diseases that have such a huge impact on our society.
His main suggestion was finding ways that promote spontaneous repair of the brain. A study he did showed that a client with Multiple Sclerosis had damage, but there was also part of the brain had tried to repair itself. His idea of promoting this recovery is through stem cells. The use of these cells could help make scientist under stand how to study or treat these disease. I too hope there is progress for a cure for some of these devastating diseases. I choose this topic because I feel like many of the diseases we have covered have little research done on them and it even takes a long time to diagnose. I would suggest this video to anyone with interest on options for finding cures to diseases of the brain.
Chandran, S. (2013, June). Can the damaged brain repair itself? [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/siddharthan_chandran_can_the_damaged_brain_repair_itself#t-937557
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