• Question: if the brain uses electrical imputes to work then is they anyway to block them and would it help stop tumers growing so fast

    Asked by mikecartoon to Christine, Edd, Jess, Nicolas, Zara on 17 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Zara Gladman

      Zara Gladman answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      Wow, good question… I’m not sure I can answer it well because I’m not a brain scientist (you should check out the brain zone for some interesting brainy questions and answers!).

      It’s something I would like to find out the answer to too! 🙂 Jess will probably know some stuff about tumour growth since she studies cancer.

    • Photo: Edward Codling

      Edward Codling answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      I don’t think we would want to block the signals in the brain – in fact many diseases and problems related to the brain are caused because of this. The cells in your brain are linked together in electrical ‘pathways’ – all these pathways between cells are what form our memories and how we behave. Hence if some signals get blocked – either because cells die or because the signal is interrupted – then we can start to lose our memory and start to find it difficult to act normally.

      This is actually what happens when people have a stroke (which is when small blood vessels in the brain burst or get blocked and the brain loses the blood it needs leading to cells dying) or with Alzheimers disease:
      http://alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=100

      If we can understand a bit more about how the brain works then we may be able to repair some of this damage. However, we can’t do that much at the moment – the brain is very delicate and there is still a lot we don’t know about it.

      To answer your second question – there are various ways people are trying to stop cancerous tumours growing – some of which include using electricity: http://www.technologyreview.com/Biotech/19195/
      However, this is not the same as the electricity used naturally in the brain signalling pathways.

    • Photo: Nicolas Biber

      Nicolas Biber answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      First I have to say that the growth rate of brain tumors is probably not related to the electrical impulses the brain (and also all the nerves we have) is using. Jess will probably be able to give you the best answer on how and why brain tumors grow. As for the electric pulses the brain is using, first of all you have to understand how they work, and I can only give you a very crude explanation of that. The brain is just a very dense accumulation of nerves, it works the same way as all our nerves. Nerves use messengers to transmit pulses to each other, these messengers are called neurotransmitters. One nerve gives them off at the connection with another nerve. The other nerve has receptors for these Neurotransmitters that cause an electric charge to be built up in the nerve (we call this an action potential). This electric charge will trigger the release of more neurotransmitters at the other end of this nerve. We have various ways to enhance, reduce or block this transmission, but I don’t know enough about the subject to tell you more about it. I believe these methods are used in painkillers or antidepressants and also in heart surgery where potassium ions are used to stop the transmission around the heart to stop the heart from beating. As Zara said, please check the Brain Zone.

    • Photo: Jessica Chu

      Jessica Chu answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      That is a really good idea. I don’t know much about the brain but from cancer biology.. why normal cells become cancerous isn’t neccessarily due to the brain’s messages to the body. It is through exposure to certain chemicals and radiation as well as our lifestyle and diet.
      So even if we stopped the impulses but continue to smoke 3 packs of cigarettes a day – the thousands of chemicals in a cigarette will very likely cause lung cells to mutate.
      Cancer cells arise is normally due to a DNA mutation (within the cells) and not so much from getting signals from the brain.
      But I see where you are coming from and it’s a really bright idea! Maybe people can look at what kind of hormones are sent from the glands that circulates around the body and to the cancer cells?

      People do use other types of energy e.g. radiation to treat certain types of cancers and sometimes it completely removes the cancer!

      But fast growing tumours have its ups and downs.. the down side is that due to the fast growth it can have serious effects to the functions of surrounding organs. But the good side is that because it is growing so fast.. it should take in more nutrients from the blood vessels so if you give the patient a drug (travels in the blood vessels).. the fast growing cancer cells should take in more.. so they will die!

Comments