Human brain is two separate organs, new Stanford research finds
HealthInnovation News Network

Human brain is two separate organs, new Stanford research finds

Stanford researchers found the human brain is actually two ancient nervous systems joined together, which could help treat diseases like ALS and SMA.

The team at Stanford Medicine found that the brain is made of two ancient nervous systems and could aid efforts to grow hindbrain neurons

The Long Sip
What happened

Stanford Medicine researchers found the human brain is two distinct organs that evolved independently over hundreds of millions of years, not one unified structure.

The detail

The front of the brain and the back of the brain arise from completely different progenitor cells, overturning decades of accepted scientific thinking.

What it means

Scientists can now grow hindbrain neurons in a petri dish, opening new paths to study devastating diseases like ALS and spinal muscular atrophy.

For you

This discovery means scientists can now grow hindbrain neurons in a lab, which could lead to new treatments for conditions like ALS and spinal muscular atrophy.

Full story at Innovation News Network

What readers are saying

Wends
This explains why labs have struggled to grow hindbrain neurons for decades - they were essentially trying to reprogram the wrong progenitor cells. The practical takeaway is that understanding these two separate developmental pathways should finally let researchers culture hindbrain cells properly, which could accelerate treatments for SMA and ALS.
ange70
so the hindbrain controls swallowing and breathing, which is why people with ALS lose those abilities as those specific neurons fail. that's the part that makes this research matter for actual patients, not just the theory of it.

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