[Spartikus Rex]

http://www.newscient...http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21328524.600-prune-bad-brain-wiring-with-magnetic-pulses.html

Prune bad brain wiring with magnetic pulses

ZAPPING the brain with a weak magnetic pulse can wipe out unwanted neural connections in mice at least. The discovery could be turned into a treatment for conditions associated with abnormal neural circuitry, such as schizophrenia.

In transcranial magnetic stimulation a magnetic coil induces electric currents in the brain that can strengthen or suppress neural connections. This technique has been shown to improve symptoms in people with brain disorders such as autism and depression.

Now, Jennifer Rodger from the University of Western Australia in Crawley and colleagues have found that stimulating the brain at intensities lower than would make a neuron fire can remove unwanted neural connections in mice.

As children, our brains produce too many connections between cells. As we develop, some connections are pruned away while others are strengthened. Inept pruning has been implicated in schizophrenia.

Rodger's team used genetically modified mice with abnormal connections in an area of the brain called the superior colliculus (SC), which is involved in motion detection. In these mice, 90 per cent of the axons in the SC had extended into the wrong areas. These bad connections make it difficult for the rodents to follow moving objects in their line of sight.

Rodger used low-intensity, pulsed magnetic field stimulation (PMF) on the rodents' SC for 10 minutes a day over two weeks. It is thought that PMF is too weak to make healthy neurons fire. But after treatment, tissue analysis showed that only 45 per cent of the abnormal axons were still there. "The axons that weren't in the right place were wiped out," says Rodger. After treatment the mice were also better at tracking objects.

"PMF is awakening unwanted connections, so the brain can detect and remove them," says Rodger.

Unwanted neurons generally express high levels of a specific NMDA glutamate receptor. According to Rodger, this makes them sensitive to changes in electrical activity and so even low-intensity pulses can activate these neurons.

NMDA receptors send out signals that trigger the recruitment of two chemicals called nitric oxide and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which help remove abnormal circuitry in healthy brains. Indeed, modified mice given PMF expressed higher levels of both chemicals, while only minor changes were found in healthy mice or those given a sham procedure (The FASEB Journal, DOI: 10.1096/fj.11-194878).

"I think it is a very promising avenue for treatment of nervous system disorders that involve abnormally abundant and inaccurate connections," says Rodger.

(continued)

If there's no money in it then this non-invasive intervention will be forgotten pretty quick under the precautionary principle unlike olanzipine?

[manic666]

Do you mean DBT the theropy thats on trail in america , where you are operated on an a band of electrodes are put under you scalp, it has 50 -50 chance of working an you can put you name down for the experimemt. If it works and is past it will cost about £20,000 an them follow up money for life. so i think you can forget that on the NHS.

[Spartikus Rex]

manic666, on 18 February 2012 - 10:50 AM, said:

Do you mean DBT the theropy thats on trail in america , where you are operated on an a band of electrodes are put under you scalp, it has 50 -50 chance of working an you can put you name down for the experimemt. If it works and is past it will cost about £20,000 an them follow up money for life. so i think you can forget that on the NHS.

I'm sure a cash strapped NHS with access to some of the finest Cambridge experts on magnetism could make a magnetic pulse beam for a couple of grand. The Americans have lawyers and the like to make everything so costly....this country needs to get back to basics and do what the French did with their lawyers when they got too powerful?

[ramboself]

maybe plugging people into the mains might be cheaper, is this an argument for ect which among other things i've had

[Spartikus Rex]

ramboself, on 18 February 2012 - 09:03 PM, said:

maybe plugging people into the mains might be cheaper, is this an argument for ect which among other things i've had

No, this is different from ECT. A lot less dangerous. I used to stand next to 1 Tesla supermagnets on my engineering course....great things, good fun with paper clips, they flew like bullets....

[manic666]

http://en.wikipedia....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_brain_stimulation DBS i got the wrong lettering hear they fit this in your head.

[Spartikus Rex]

manic666, on 19 February 2012 - 11:07 AM, said:

http://en.wikipedia....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_brain_stimulation DBS i got the wrong lettering hear they fit this in your head.

They know what they're doing.