| 0s | Why don't we know more about the brain? |
| 1s | Well, because we don't have any to |
| 3s | study. Anthony Carboni here for D News and |
| 11s | I promise I wasn't insulting you. I'm |
| 12s | sure you have tons of brains. I'm talking |
| 13s | more about a study that was published |
| 15s | about autistic children. When studying |
| 17s | the brains of deceased autistic children, |
| 19s | these researchers found bits of the |
| 20s | cerebral cortex where neurons weren't |
| 22s | arranged the way they are in the brains |
| 24s | of people without autism. So this could |
| 26s | be a huge finding leading us to find the |
| 28s | actual source of the disorder, or |
| 30s | treatments for it. But there's a problem |
| 32s | that Greg Miller reported in Wired a |
| 34s | couple days back. They can't replicate |
| 35s | the study to be sure of their findings |
| 37s | and not because their research was bad. |
| 39s | They just don't have brains. No one is |
| 42s | donating brains. In the last decade, we've |
| 44s | been finding out all kinds of great |
| 46s | things about the brain and what happens |
| 48s | in it during things like Parkinson's, |
| 49s | Alzheimer's, dementia, even how it relates |
| 51s | to aging. Most of those findings come |
| 53s | from MRI data or from lab animals that |
| 55s | are genetically altered to have the |
| 57s | symptoms of a disorder that's being |
| 58s | studied. Now the problem with MRIs is |
| 60s | that they don't get down to the cellular |
| 62s | or genetic level. They're not detailed |
| 64s | enough. And the problem with animal |
| 65s | brains is they're not human brains. Rats |
| 67s | are close structurally, but it's inexact. |
| 69s | To do the most optimal research, you need |
| 72s | well-preserved similar human brains. In |
| 75s | this case, a group of healthy control |
| 76s | brains and a group of autistic brains. So, |
| 78s | why is that an issue? What about organ |
| 81s | donation? Where are the brains? |
| 82s | Well the main priority of organ donor |
| 84s | programs is to save lives, so when you |
| 86s | decide to donate your organs or tissue, |
| 87s | the first thing that happens is that |
| 89s | they are given to people in need of |
| 90s | transplants. Anything that can't be |
| 92s | matched is donated to scientific |
| 94s | research before they become unhealthy. So, |
| 96s | the shelf life on a lung is about six |
| 98s | hours. If someone in need isn't found by |
| 100s | the end of that time, then it becomes a |
| 102s | research lung. Because the program is |
| 103s | about transplants and not research, |
| 105s | brains don't enter into it. Brain |
| 107s | transplants aren't possible and swapping |
| 109s | brains with someone isn't going to save |
| 111s | their life anyway. So to donate a brain, |
| 112s | you've got to volunteer ahead of time. |
| 114s | Not only that, you've got to make sure |
| 115s | arrangements are made to get your brain |
| 117s | out of you right after you die. Most |
| 119s | physicians aren't familiar with the |
| 121s | process and brain cells are the first |
| 123s | thing in the body to go. They only |
| 124s | survive about three to seven minutes |
| 126s | without oxygen before they start dying |
| 127s | and decaying, and then the brain has to |
| 129s | get to the research lab within 24 hours |
| 131s | of death. Usually a special |
| 133s | team has to be alerted before a donor |
| 135s | even dies, which means no accident |
| 137s | victims or unforeseen emergencies. The |
| 139s | people who tend to be familiar and |
| 141s | prepared for this process are the ones |
| 143s | who are suffering from neurological |
| 144s | diseases or disorders who want to donate |
| 146s | their brains to help find a cure. People |
| 148s | with healthy brains don't usually know |
| 150s | this stuff, so that means researchers |
| 152s | have no brains to compare to as control |
| 155s | brains, like, the Parkinson's UK Brain |
| 157s | Bank has about a thousand brains at any |
| 159s | time, and only 10% of them are healthy |
| 162s | brains. We need more brains if we want to |
| 165s | cure all these things. So what can you do? |
| 166s | Well if you want to donate here in the |
| 168s | |
| 170s | NIH NeuroBioBank or other centers for specific |
| 172s | diseases and disorders that we will put |
| 174s | in links in the video description, and if |
| 176s | you know of any sites in your own |
| 177s | country that you want to add, leave them |
| 178s | in the comments down below or tweet them |
| 180s | to me @acarboni and we'll add them |
| 182s | |
