27,28

Quite remarkably, more recent studies have revealed that, in fact, the brain is inducing repair by bringing new cells in from areas of the brain that do have stems cells and directing them to the sites of damage. While with severe strokes, this see more microrepair is not enough to reverse the damage, it is likely that this microrepair system is adequate to protect, prevent, and repair the Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical brain after small, often-unrecognized strokes. Some of this repair is likely to be behind the often-observed remarkable though quite variable recovery that occurs after many strokes. Growth factors like EG F and FGF arc now being used to try to enhance the intrinsic repair process, and with encouraging results.29 One of the most striking

correlations between disease Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and neurogenesis is in depression. As mentioned above, stress reduces the process of neurogenesis leading to fewer newborn cells in the dentate gyrus, and chronic stress is believed to be the most important causal factor in depression aside from genetic predisposition.30-32 Antidepressants (tricyclic antidepressants, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, tianeptine, and lithium) augment neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical of experimental animals and, interestingly, the time required to observe therapeutic effects of these drugs corresponds to the time course for neurogenesis. This has led to a hypothesis that depression is in part

caused by a decrease in neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus and thus antidepressant therapy and physical Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical therapy (ie, running and exercise) reverse depression by activating neurogenesis in the Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical dentate gyrus. While this is currently only a working hypothesis, there is converging evidence to support this view, which is leading to the examination of other factors that affect adult neurogenesis and the determination of their effects on depression. Harnessing the endogenous capacity for self-repair that exists in the adult brain We now know that the brain does indeed have a pool of residual cells that can divide making new cells that can Histone demethylase roam around the brain and spinal cord and, under special conditions, differentiate into new functioning cells. We are also beginning to understand some of the cellular and molecular factors, as well as environment events, that, regulate the process of neurogenesis. Importantly, there is a consistent correlation between improved function and increases in neurogenesis. This is particularly the case for hippocampus-associated behaviors and functions; moreover, several neural diseases have been associated with changes in neurogenesis.