In Loving Memory:
Death of Our
Brain Cells
by Emjay Rosales
Do you see this ball comprised of beautifully interconnected web-like colors? These things are made visibly possible through a magnified capture. And these are not just colors. They are called brain cells or neurons. And like people, yes, they die—well, at some point.
Magnified photo of a ball of brain cells by Thomas Hurting, a professor of environmental health sciences at the Bloomberg School
It doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world if brain cells die. Our brain has the ability to repair itself and generate new brain cells which is called neurogenesis. Scientifically speaking, it is the redevelopment of neurons from our neural stem cells and progenitor cells. Neural stem cells self-renew and give rise to neurons (Kornblum, 2007) while progenitor cells replenish special cells.
I might have spoiled you the vital ending—that brain is still capable of ‘producing’ as much as ‘losing’ neurons. But still, let us get into a “scientific flashback” and find out how our protagonist—brain cells—died.
DEHYDRATION
Dehydration occurs when a person loses an extremely amount of body water, associated with a decline of metabolic processes. Although it doesn’t that easily kill brain cells if a person did not follow the golden rule of drinking eight glasses of water a day, but in a case wherein he or she did not drink even a drop of water for the whole day, then brain cells are likely to die. It makes sense for brain making up of 75% water, right?
Dehydration affects long-term memory recall and general problem solving.
SMOKING TOBACCO
There was a research published in the Journal of Neurochemistry, July 2009 issue, led by Debapriya Ghosh and Dr Anirban Basu from the Indian National Brain Research Center (NBRC) about a direct link between smoking and brain damage.
It was believed that a tobacco compound that “provokes white blood cells in the central nervous system to attack healthy cells, leading to severe neurological damage” has been found which is the Nicotine-derived Nitrosamine Ketone or NNK. It is transformed into a carcinogen, meaning it can cause cancer, or defined as “procarcinogen.” Though it doesn’t directly attack the brain cells, Ghosh and Basu found out that NNK can cause neuroinflammation which can lead to neurological disorder like Multiple Sclerosis.
Every cigarette contains 1 to 2 milligrams of nicotine and it reaches your brain in 8 to 10 seconds.
HEADBANGING
Headbanging can rupture the bridging veins causing hemorrhage.
Heavy-metal music fans who are known to commonly do headbanging are being warned by University of New South Wales professor Dr. Andrew McIntosh and Declan Patton through the December 2008 issue of British Medical Journal.
It concludes headbanging as the cause of having mild traumatic brain injury. Songs that have an average tempo of 146 beats per minute—commonly heard from the rock genre—can “cause headaches and dizziness if the range of movement of the head and neck is greater than 75°.” Remember Terry Balsamo of the Evanescence band? He was diagnosed with stroke from headbanging.
ANESTHESIA
Vital signs monitoring during isoflurane anesthesia in mice. The rectal probe andpulse oximeter are located at the colorectum and tail base, respectively.
Anesthesia is a temporary loss of sensation or awareness through the use of injection, gas, or hypnosis before a medical procedure. Although there is no conclusive proof that it anesthesia kills brain cells, there have been reports in rats and mice.
A December 2016 issue from the journal Anesthesiology has published an article about the neuronal cell death caused by anesthesia. Jiang, et.al exposed animals to isoflurane anesthesia—a general anesthetic by inhalation which has a mildly pungent ethereal odor—two weeks after they labeled a small cohort of developing hipoccampal neurons. They found out that there was a brain cell death that happened to those immature, developing neurons in anesthesia exposure. But still, there has to be a proper explanation from the overlap between anesthetic-mediated brain cell death and the possibility of neurocognitive dysfunction.
STRESS
In the journal Molecular Psychiatry, February 2014 issue, researchers from University of California, Berkeley explained that people suffering from chronic stress can develop continuing changes in the brain structure which can reveal why they go through anxiety and other mood disorders.
Associate professor of Integrative Biology Daniela Kaufer found out that chronic stress “generates more myelin-producing cells and fewer neurons than normal.” It means it upsets the equilibrium and the timing of communication. Myelin is a protective covering that surround nerve fibers in the brain.
Stress creates free radicals in the brain unattached oxygen molecules—that kill our brain cells.
No biggie! Losing brain cells from harmful toxins every once in a while is not really that huge of a deal, since they get replaced with new ones. Although they have slight damaging effects in terms of cognition, you won’t really suffer from an extensive change in your intelligence. But in case someone is doing drugs or drinking alcohol for a long period of time, your brain will still undergo neurogenesis assumingly he or she already stopped.