Close X
Monday, November 11, 2024
ADVT 
Health

How to prevent brain damage after trauma

Darpan News Desk IANS, 20 Oct, 2014 07:39 AM
  • How to prevent brain damage after trauma
A treatment to prevent the body's immune system from killing brain cells can reduce the brain damage caused by head injuries, a study co-authored by an Indian origin researcher has found.
 
An immune-based treatment reduced the size of brain lesions, the experiments on mice showed.
 
The treatment called CAP (competitive antagonist peptide) was successful because it stops the immune system from attacking the brain, the researchers said.
 
If the findings apply to humans, this would help prevent brain damage after accidents, they added.
 
The researchers were testing the theory that blows to the head cause brain damage, in part, because of the breakdown of the blood-brain barrier, allowing the immune cells in the blood to come into contact with brain cells and destroy them.
 
So they hypothesised that mice, missing a vital immune component, would have less brain damage from trauma, and that a treatment which blocks a component of the immune system would prevent damage.
 
The component they were working on was CD74, which plays a crucial part in the immune system's response to disease causing agents.
 
"The data support the hypothesis that neuro-degeneration following TBI (traumatic brain injury) is dependent upon antigen processing and requires CD74," said co-author Sanjib Mukherjee from Central Texas Veterans Health Care System, Texas in the US.
 
They tested this theory by a range of tests involving a total of 32 mice.
 
The mice that received the CAP treatment had smaller brain lesions, suggesting that it did reduce the damage caused by brain trauma.
 
The study appeared in the open access journal Acta Neuropathologica Communications.

MORE Health ARTICLES

'Women, men with high BP prescribed different drugs'

'Women, men with high BP prescribed different drugs'
Women who are treated for high blood pressure are not given the same medication as men nor do they hit the treatment targets as often, Swedish researchers say....

'Women, men with high BP prescribed different drugs'

Drug found effective in treating stress-related diabetes

Drug found effective in treating stress-related diabetes
Personalised treatment for Type 2 diabetes could be available soon as researchers have found that yohimbin, a drug that was de-registered for several years...

Drug found effective in treating stress-related diabetes

How Plasma Transfusions, Antibodies Like What Dallas Nurse Received Might Help Fight Ebola

How Plasma Transfusions, Antibodies Like What Dallas Nurse Received Might Help Fight Ebola
A Dallas nurse being treated for Ebola has received a plasma transfusion from a doctor who beat his own infection with the deadly virus after getting a similar treatment. The reason: Antibodies in the blood of a survivor may help a patient fight off the germ.

How Plasma Transfusions, Antibodies Like What Dallas Nurse Received Might Help Fight Ebola

Seeing The Light: New Implant Dramatically Improves Ability To See

Seeing The Light: New Implant Dramatically Improves Ability To See
TORONTO - It's not exactly the bionic eye that gave the Six Million Dollar Man of 1970s TV fame extraordinary vision, but a new implant is helping some people with virtually no sight due to degenerative retinal diseases to make out light and dark, and it may one day dramatically improve their ability to see.

Seeing The Light: New Implant Dramatically Improves Ability To See

Decoded: How Alzheimer's spreads

Decoded: How Alzheimer's spreads
In a major breakthrough, a team of US researchers has confirmed that deposits of a protein called beta amyloid in the brain trigger Alzheimer's disease....

Decoded: How Alzheimer's spreads

Acidic sports drinks ruining teeth of athletes

The preference for a high carbohydrate diet and acidic sports drinks during training and performance may explain the prevalence of poor dental health among athletes, says a study....

Acidic sports drinks ruining teeth of athletes