Animal Proteins Could Promote Brain-Damage Healing

Brain damages are extremely difficult to treat, and the healing process, even when effective, usually takes a long time to complete. Now, researchers say that a diet rich in proteins could be very beneficial for the condition, promoting and accelerating healing. The work was conducted by scientists at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, who were led by expert Akiva Cohen. The group says that proteins such as the ones derived from fish- and chicken-based meals are very efficient in treating damages to the cortex, according to the results of a new scientific study conducted on mice.

In the new experiments, the scientists mimicked brain injuries in a number of lab mice, by drilling a hole in their skulls, and injecting fluid into their brain cavities through it. They then compared these mice for seven days with the ones in a control group, which had suffered no brain damage. The team noticed that the animals in the first group had very low levels of the three branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) leucine, isoleucine and valine – substances that play an important role in regenerating muscles.

The science group then created another set of brain-injured mice, and placed them on a diet rich in leucine, isoleucine and valine. A few days later, the experts noticed that the rodents who ate these chemicals tended to have close to normal levels of the substances in their brain. They were also found to be much better at learning tasks than other animals that had not been given the BCAA-rich diet. Cohen suggests that the action mechanism that the amino acids take is actually quite simple, NewScientist reports.

The expert says that, as brain injuries occur, the delicate balance between neuronal excitation and inhibition, which is controlled by a region of the cortex called the hippocampus, is broken. BCAA may in fact be playing an important role in restoring this balance, by creating more neurotransmitters, to aid with the regeneration and healing efforts. “The new findings represent a substantial progression because they provide evidence, on an experimental basis, of the beneficial effects of BCAA,” University of Pavia expert Simona Viglio, whose group has already been investigating the effects of the amino acids for some time, says.