Brain’s ‘alert status’ opens up new ways of treating coma: Study
September 15th, 2009 - 3:39 pm ICT by IANSWashington, Sep 15 (IANS) An ‘alert status’ area in the brain potentially opens up new ways of treating insomnia, excessive sleepiness, reversible coma or loss of consciousness, says a new study.
Hebrew University professor of pain research Marshall Devor, graduate student Ruth Abulafia and research associate Vladimir Zalkind discovered how a brain area participates in the control of “alert status”.
Their study suggests that a small group of neurons near the base of the brain has executive control over the ‘alert status’ of the entire cerebrum and spinal cord. It can generate loss of pain sensation, postural collapse and loss of consciousness through specific neural (nerve cell) circuitry.
This conclusion is based on the observation that injecting tiny quantities of anaesthetic drugs into this newly discovered ‘alert status’ area in lab rats’ brains induced a profound suppressive effect on the activity of the cerebral cortex.
Previously, it was presumed that these dramatic changes were because of dispersed drug action or nutrient starvation, says a Hebrew University release.
These findings were published in the Journal of Neuroscience.
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