Monday, May 27, 2019
More verification that the brain never stops growing
Via RCS:
Lazarov and colleagues looked at post-mortem hippocampal tissue from 18 people with an average age of 90.6 years. They stained the tissue for neural stem cells and also for newly developing neurons. They found, on average, approximately 2,000 neural progenitor cells per brain. They also found an average of 150,000 developing neurons. Analysis of a subset of these developing neurons revealed that the number of proliferating developing neurons is significantly lower in people with cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease.There's some Kuhnian resistance to the idea. Many generations of scientists have grown up with the firm notion that brains stop growing at 21. This latest bit of straightforward histology should help to overcome the non-plasticity of the non-plasticity advocates. 150K developing neurons isn't an impressive number compared to the billions that develop in the first year of life, but it's still a firm disproof of the non-growth theory. Conclusion: KEEP WALKING. KEEP DANCING. (Also, Lazarov is a nice semi-aptronym!)
Labels: Aptronym Alert, coot-proofing
¶ 5:11 AM
