Neuro Note #3: Can the damaged brain repair itself?

Siddharthan Chandran: Can the damaged brain repair itself? 



In his TED Talk, Siddharthan talks about the different diseases that can affect the brain and what the individual diseases do to different aspects of the brain. Throughout his talk, he showed illustrations that reveal what happens to the brain when a person has a disease such as Alzheimer's disease or Multiple Sclerosis. After informing his audience that there are over 35 million people living with a brain disease, he goes on to explain that the annual cost is more than one percent of the world's gross domestic product (GDP), at 70 billion dollars. Siddharthan also goes on to explain that these numbers are not slowing down because people are living longer, and therefore, these age-related diseases will only continue to grow. Siddharthan also went into the topic of stem cells and how they can regenerate themselves or become specialized cells, in order to be used in whatever part of the body might need them.
I decided to choose this TED Talk for my Neuro Note because the title itself intrigued my interest. Like Siddharthan, i've learned in the past that the brain cannot repair itself, but according to recent findings, the brain can in fact repair itself. But there's a catch. Though brain scans can show new growth of myelination and while this proves that the brain can repair itself, it is not a good enough repair system to completely cure the disease within the brain. Another reason why I chose this TED Talk was because I had a feeling that Siddharthan might mention stem cells and I was interested to see his partake in the global debate over them. Along with Siddharthan, I believe harvesting stem cells is an important part of developing a possible cure or prevention for these brain diseases.

I think it's crazy that we have drones and cars that can go on water and on land, but we are still searching for an explanation of these brain diseases and how to cure them or slow their progress. Yes, the drones and multipurpose cars are cool, but why can't we use that money to find more ways to help replace the damage cells within the brain? Whether that is a drug, stem cells, or an immunization, the time and money spent on this aspect of healthcare is important. There are so many things that have yet to be discovered from the brain and I think it is essential to our future as a human race to find out what is currently undiscovered. I've always felt that the future of research and cures for diseases was lurking with stem cells, but this just confirmed it more for me; if stem cells have the capability to do the incredible task of becoming a specific needed cell, then that's what money for research should be going towards.




Chandran, Siddharthan. (2013, July). Siddharthan Chandran: Can the damaged brain repair itself? [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/siddharthan_chandran_can_the_damaged_brain_repair_itself#t-45232




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