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Old 09-16-2004, 07:22 AM   #1
Dreamer128
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Join Date: March 21, 2001
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Age: 39
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I always thought Alcohol was the big bad when it came to killing brain cells. As it turns out: I may have been wrong. The following text comes from various sources.

Smoking 'kills brain cells'

Scientists said they have found the first direct biological evidence that smoking destroys brain cells and stops others being produced.
Anti-smoking groups said this provided an even greater incentive to stop smoking.

French researchers led by Pier-Vincenzo Piazza and Djoher Nora Abrous, at the National Institute for Health and Medical Research (INSERM) let three groups of rats give themselves low, medium or high amounts of nicotine.

A fourth group was allowed no nicotine at all.

Protein

The rats were allowed to absorb the nicotine for an hour a day for 42 days. They were then killed and their brains dissected.

Rodents that took the medium and higher doses suffered a 50% higher loss in the production of new brain cells than the non-nicotine group, as well as a significantly higher rate of brain cell death.

The researchers also found that all the rats taking nicotine suffered a fall in the protein PSA-NCAM.

This protein plays a vital part in the adaptibility of the brain and is related to an ability to learn and memorise.


The report, published in The Journal of Neuroscience said: "These results raise an important additional concern for the health consequences of nicotine abuse and open new insight on the possible neural mechanisms of tobacco addiction."

The authors said their studies rebutted previous research in the 1990s that suggested that smoking could boost cognitive performance.

Quit smoking


Amanda Sandford, of ASH, said the new findings should spur people to quit smoking.

"There are no great surprises there because tobacco is full of nasty chemicals.

"But what is interesting is that they are saying they have found how tobacco smoking affects the body.

"It is yet another reason for quitting at the earliest opportunity and dispels the myth that smoking helps concentration."

(Source: BBC)

Does alcohol kill brain cells?

A: No, usually brain cells are not killed. For 16 years, Roberta J. Pentney, professor of anatomy and cell biology at the University at Buffalo, has studied chronic alcohol abuse and brain function. She concludes that alcohol does not kill brain cells but rather damages dendrites--the branched ends of nerve cells that bring messages into the cell.

Alcohol surely affects the brain, as we all know, causing slurred speech, clumsiness, slow reflexes, and a loss of inhibition. But alcohol doesn't destroy the brain cells to cause these problems.

Rather, alcohol dilates the channels in the cellular structure that regulates the flow of calcium. More calcium than normal flows into the cells and stimulates increased activity. Somehow this abnormal "turning on" of activity causes a loss of the end segments but not does not kill the whole cell. Losing the end segments, however, means losing incoming messages, which disrupts brain function.

The good news is: the damage to the brain cells, for the most part, isn't permanent. The brain repairs itself but the recovery process does change nerve-cell structure. So most function returns to normal but some does not.

Another researcher, working independently finds similar results: Alcohol doesn't kill brain cells; instead it slows communications. Richard Gross professor of medicine, chemistry, and molecular biology & pharmacology at Washington University in St. Louis, discovers alcohol combines with the brain's fatty acids and forms compounds called fatty-acid-ethyl esters. These compounds, in turn, change the flow of electric and chemical signals in the brain. A change in this flow alters how the brain works.

A molecule of fatty-acid-ethyl ester latches onto and enters a nerve cell. Inside the cell, the compound speeds up a release of potassium ions, which inhibits the release of neurotransmitters, and that slows down communication between cells.

A drink doesn't kill brain cells. It damages the way brain cells communicate and the damage is largely reversible.


Fortunately:

Brain Cells Found to Regenerate

Medical science has always presumed that brain cells killed by physical trauma, stroke or other disease cannot regenerate. Victims of such brain injuries faced no hope of growing new cells to fulfill the function of dead cells, leaving their brains permanently impaired.

However, a landmark study in late 1998 by researchers from Sweden and the Salk Institute in La Jolla, Calif., showed for the first time that brain cells in mature humans can regenerate. The research was reported in the November issue of Nature Medicine.

Brain cell regeneration had been observed before in some lower mammals, but not in humans, monkeys or apes. More complex brains, it was thought, would be severely disrupted by new cell growth.

Working with terminal cancer patients ranging in age from 50s to 70s, researchers used a diagnostic agent that labels actively dividing cells. After the patients died, their brains were examined for the presence of the agent, which attaches itself to the DNA of new cells.

New cells were found. Though few in number, the new cells formed in an important part of the brain, the hippocampus, which is involved in learning and memory. The discovery raises hopes for even victims of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. And it is possible that new cell growth is substantially greater in younger, healthy adults.

Another issue to be resolved is whether the new brain cells will form networks, said Dennis Maiman, MD, professor of neurosurgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin who practices at Froedtert Hospital. For example, could the new brain cells establish networks through the scar tissue that forms following a stroke? And can other parts of the brain regenerate cells, too?

"I think this is very valuable research," Dr. Maiman said. "This is a huge piece of information. The discovery opens the door for the possibilities of future therapies for those who have experienced brain injuries."

One day, the mechanism to regenerate cells may be understood so that the brain can be directed to repair itself with new cells whenever and wherever it suffers trauma.

(Source: http://healthlink.mcw.edu/article/926345803.html)
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Old 09-16-2004, 07:34 AM   #2
aleph_null1
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Join Date: January 7, 2001
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"There are no great surprises there because tobacco is full of nasty chemicals."

Thanks, Amanda, for that insight

Whatever... I never liked my brain cells anyway.
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Old 09-16-2004, 07:46 AM   #3
Kakero
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Join Date: March 24, 2002
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I don't smoke but my brain cells are still dying.
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Old 09-16-2004, 08:04 AM   #4
Hivetyrant
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Well there you go.I also thought that it was alcohol that killed them better [img]tongue.gif[/img] .
Thanks Dreamer [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]
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Old 09-16-2004, 08:54 AM   #5
johnny
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It only kills the WEAK braincells, so in the end only the stronger cells survive, same with alcohol. Matter of fact, ESPECIALLY with alcohol.

So you see, drinking and smoking basically makes you stronger in the long run.
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Old 09-16-2004, 09:00 AM   #6
Pyrius
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Join Date: August 18, 2002
Location: America
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So if I smoke, I kill brain cells....
If I live in a big city with pollution I kill brain cells.....
I work around cleaning products, that kills brain cells....
I also work around gasoline, that kills brain cells.....
I watch CNN, that kills brain cells....
Man it sucks to be me....I just cant win can I?
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Old 09-16-2004, 04:56 PM   #7
Gxc
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Join Date: August 29, 2004
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Sad

Im drug free, and i dont plan on doing drug. But there sure is alot of things that kill brain cells..
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Old 09-16-2004, 05:12 PM   #8
Timber Loftis
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Join Date: July 11, 2002
Location: Chicago, IL
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Damn... come to find out I'm not killing off the buggers as fast as I want. Time to take up huffing nitrous again, I guess.
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Old 09-16-2004, 05:24 PM   #9
Vaskez
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Join Date: April 30, 2001
Location: szép Magyarország (well not right now)
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Yeah, sometimes I just get fed up of hearing how many things can go wrong with your body and how many things you should not eat, drink or do. If we listened to every warning we read and heard we'd be living in a constant panic for our very lives and it ain't even worth living like that. The answer here (not talking about smoking but looking after your health in general) as it is in most things is to take the golden middle route: everything in moderation, don't overdo anything and with a bit of luck you'll be fine
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Old 09-17-2004, 03:58 AM   #10
Dave_the_quack
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Join Date: August 22, 2004
Location: Sydney, Australia.
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Another reason I dont do the naughty puff. Disgusting habit...

Question: why do you take up smoking in the first place? Is it.. well, like drinking alcohol for the first time? Im not a smoker, hopefully never will be... but I knew that if you drink alcohol.. you get drunk. What on earth do you get from smoking?
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