The neuroscience community has over the past few years been involved in endless arguments, as to whether a technique known as deep-brain stimulation – electrodes inserted in various parts of the cortex, which have electrical current passing through them – can trigger the formation of new, functional neurons. In a recent study conducted on animal models, neurosurgery resident Scellig Stone, a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto, argues that the technique could be successfully used on humans too, following good results in the unsuspecting animals.

“I'm hoping to help people who have difficulty remembering things,” the expert said. During the study, electrodes were implanted in mice, and electrical stimulation of those areas appeared to trigger the production of new neurons, which were not just lumpy growths, but became functional parts of the cortex. If the accomplishment can be achieved in humans as well, it may open up new avenues of research in curing diseases such as Alzheimer's, which currently affects millions of people.

 

During the study, the researcher placed electrodes inside the rodent's limbic system, a formation inside the brain, and stimulated it with low-intensity current for about an hour. Knowing that the average mouse brain produces a few thousands of new neurons each day, Stone waited for the results of the stimulation. Three to five days after the procedure was completed, he noticed that the animals' brains were producing twice or more the number of neurons they usually generate, Nature News reports.

 

The finds were presented on May 25, at the annual meeting of the Canadian Association for Neuroscience, in Vancouver by Paul Frankland, one of Stone's supervisors, based at the Hospital for Sick Children, in Toronto.

 

After the electro-stimulation therapy, they injected the mice with iododeoxyuridine, a substance that allows experts to analyze which neurons are active, and which are not. After training the animals to a simple task, Stone looked at their brains, searching for a protein called Fos. This protein is associated with learning, and takes only 90 minutes to form. He learned that the Fos levels in both natural and artificially-produced neurons were the same. “These new neurons aren't just sitting around doing nothing,” he concluded.