- Title: Belgian doctors pin hope on large brain collection to treat diseases
- Date: 19th July 2017
- Summary: DUFFEL, BELGIUM (JULY 19, 2017) (REUTERS) STORAGE BASEMENT, PLASTIC BOXES SHELVED, CONTAINING HUMAN BRAINS BRAIN IN FORMALDEHYDE SAME BRAIN IN BOX SET ON SURFACE, OTHER BRAINS IN BOXES BEHIND, SOME WHOLE, SOME IN SLICES TWO BRAINS IN FORMALDEHYDE IN SEPARATE BOXES UNIVERSITY OF ANTWERP DOCTORAL MEDICAL RESEARCH STUDENT, JEROEN SCHUERMANS, WALKING DOWN AISLE IN STORAGE BASEMENT, TAKING TWO BOXES OF BRAINS, AND LEAVING TWO BOXES OF BRAINS BEING PICKED UP OFF OF SHELF BRAINS IN BOXES, SCHUERMANS WALKING PAST PIECES OF A SLICED BRAIN SEEN INSIDE A PLASTIC BOX VARIOUS OF PROFESSOR OF COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ANTWERP, MANUEL MORRENS, HOLDING AND STARING AT BRAIN IN BOX (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROFESSOR OF COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ANTWERP, MANUEL MORRENS, SAYING: "We're indeed in a room filled with brains. These are 3,000 brains that come from a mental hospital in London. And this is a collection that actually got built from 1950 to 1979 by a neuropathologist called John Corsellis, and this professor collected these brains all his career as part of a collection that was over 8,000 brains. Here you can see the three thousand brains that are relevant for psychiatric research, so these are brains of patients that suffered from psychosis that suffered from major depression, Manic Depressive Disorder, et cetera." SCHUERMANS IN LAB, OPENING BOX CONTAINING WHOLE BRAIN AND PLACING THE BRAIN ON A RED BOARD, LARGE KNIFE ON BOARD (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROFESSOR OF COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ANTWERP, MANUEL MORRENS, SAYING: "And one major advantage from this collection is that the earliest brains stem from the 50s, the 60s, and this is the period where most medications got introduced to the market, which mean that these are brains of patients that never got in touch with these medications. So we have the opportunity to look at the effects of the disease without any confounding impact of this medication, so we have a clear view on this illness itself. So this is really interesting to investigate, to separate the effect of the illness and the effect of medication on these brains." SCHUERMANS IN LAB, CONCENTRATING KNIFE CUTTING BRAIN IN TWO DOWN CENTRAL MEMBRANE (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROFESSOR OF COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ANTWERP, MANUEL MORRENS, SAYING: "But we are also aware of the fact that we can improve and should ameliorate our treatment options, and in order to do so, we need to properly understand what's going on in the brains, because until now, we have been looking at the level of neuro-transmission, at the messengers in the brain and what's going on with those messengers. But it's really likely, it's certain that it's a much more complex problem in these illnesses, and we need to fully understand what's behind these messengers, to get an impact on those processes to really improve and maybe prevent, who knows, these illnesses in the future." SCHUERMANS OPENING UP THE TWO HALVES OF THE BRAIN HE JUST CUT TWO HALVES OF BRAIN ON BOARD (SOUNDBITE) (English) PROFESSOR OF COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ANTWERP, MANUEL MORRENS, SAYING: "By having access to real brain tissue, you can look at it at a microscopic level to understand on a cellular level what's going on in the brain. Which cells are active, which aren't? Which are producing certain toxic products, which aren't? During which phase of the illness? We have patients in all types of phases of the illness. You can also really go into which proteins are active during certain phases of the illness, because these proteins will tell us something about the processes that were actively going on while these patients were still alive."
- Embargoed: 2nd August 2017 15:27
- Keywords: Brains brain research medical psychiatry depression psychosis hospital
- Location: DUFFEL, BELGIUM
- City: DUFFEL, BELGIUM
- Country: Belgium
- Topics: Life Sciences,Science
- Reuters ID: LVA0016QDW8JR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS GRAPHIC PICTURES
A Belgian psychiatric hospital is home to one of the largest collections of human brains in the world, which researchers say could hold the key to developing new treatments for diseases such as psychosis, schizophrenia and severe depression.
The more than 3000 brains of diseased psychiatric patients were part of an even larger collection of about 8000 items, assembled over more than 40 years by British neuro-pathologist John Corsellis, who started in the 1950s.
The London-based hospital which stored the brains had run out of space and needed to find a new home, eventually agreeing to send them to the Duffel Psychiatric Hospital in the north of Belgium.
Stored in formaldehyde and tucked away in ordinary plastic containers in the basement of the hospital, some of the brains are still completely intact, while others have been sliced up.
Scientists say the older brains are the most interesting, as they carry the diseases without ever having been treated with modern medicines.
By using methods developed more recently, researchers can see what molecular processes have taken place and compare them with healthy brains.
Manuel Morrens, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Antwerp told Reuters that they can investigate thoroughly which proteins are active during certain phases of mental illnesses.
He added that this will really contribute to our understanding of what is going on in the brain.
The first results of their research will be available later this year. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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