Spiked neurons are not restored
Alcohol prevents the formation of new nerve cells
Ilya Vedmedenko, Naked Science
Recently, there are more and more studies claiming that even moderate alcohol consumption negatively affects human health and, in particular, the work of the brain. A group of scientists from the University of Texas at Austin presented new findings on the effects of alcohol on the body. The results of the work were published in Stem Cell Reports (McGrath et al., Spatial and Sex-Dependent Responses of Adult Endogenous Neural Stem Cells to Alcohol Consumption), a brief overview is available on the Medicalexpress website (Frequent alcohol drinking kills new brain cells in adults, females are more vulnerable).
Brain stem cells were in the center of attention of specialists. As is known, neuronal stem cells (NSCs) located in the central nervous system can turn into specialized nerve cells. Until the discovery of the NSC, the scientific community was dominated by the views that the human brain has a fixed number of neurons, and their loss is irreversible. Therefore, the preservation of still intact nerve cells was indicated as the best way to protect the brain from the effects of alcohol. Now, as part of their research, American scientists have applied a new method in which they labeled brain stem cells and analyzed exactly how alcohol affects them in the long term.
The experiment was conducted on male and female mice. The analysis once again showed that alcohol has a devastating systemic effect on the brain. At the same time, it affects different areas in different ways. Alcohol causes the greatest harm to the stem cells of the subventricular zone, thanks to which new neurons appear throughout adult life. In other words, alcohol consumption dramatically slows down the formation of nerve cells. Moreover, most of all neurodegenerative processes affected female rodents. The males also suffered from the effects of alcohol, but not so much.
The authors of the study themselves plan to use the data obtained to improve the fight against chronic alcoholism. Scientists emphasize that effective treatment will require not only the protection of still intact nerve cells, but also the stimulation of the activity of stem cells responsible for the emergence of new neurons.
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