Brain integrates 'baby' cells -- study

BALTIMORE, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Johns Hopkins researchers say they have learned how new neuron cells are integrated into the brain's existing operations.

The scientists at Johns Hopkins' Institute for Cell Engineering said their recent study revealed that a brain chemical called GABA readies "baby" neurons to make connections to older ones.

The finding appears in a December online edition of Nature.

"GABA is important during fetal development, but most scientists thought it would have the same role it has with adult neurons, which is to inhibit the cells' signals," says Hongjun Song, an assistant professor in the Neuroregeneration and Repair Program within ICE. "We've shown that GABA instead excites new neurons and that this is the first step toward their integration into the adult brain."

Song noted that the revelation could aid efforts to increase neuron regeneration in the brain or to make transplanted stem cells form connections more efficiently.

Previously, scientists thought the adult brain could only lose nerve cells, not gain them, but in fact, new neurons do form during adulthood in all mammals, including humans, the researchers said.