Scientists explain Every year, more than 50 thousand bone marrow transplants are performed worldwide. This method is used to treat a large number of diseases, including those associated with the brain. However, before this, people are prescribed a course of chemotherapy. How do these procedures affect the brain? The answer is in the article.Discuss
Previously, little was known about the effects of chemotherapy on the brain. However, in a new study, scientists from the Paris Brain Institute and the Pasteur Institute have looked into this issue.
In animal experiments, they found that chemotherapy replaces the brain's innate immune cells – microglia – with other immune cells. All findings were published in Nature Medicine.
In the process of conducting the study, experts studied microglial cells, that is, the immune cells of the brain that are needed for its normal functioning. Such cells are able to renew themselves throughout the life of a person or animal.
The results of this experiment showed that after chemotherapy with busulfan, microglial cells lose their ability to regenerate. Moreover, many of these cells grow old and die.
However, after transplantation, all the cells that have disappeared are quickly replaced by other immune cells, that is, bone marrow cells – macrophages. After that, macrophages begin to perform the functions that were characteristic of microglial cells. Therefore, chemotherapy during transplantation is harmless to the brain.
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Source: Medical Xpress