FORT Brain Knox

THE MYTH: The Fixed Bank Account

"Old dogs don't learn new tricks."

Before Dr. Evan Snyder's monumental discovery in 1992 that adult human stem cells exist in the brain, it was thought that out brain was a fixed bank account. Most believed that we continually draw on this account as we live, losing cells by the thousands with every Martini and every knock in the head, until we finally reached a zero balance, cashed out and at Alzheimer's door. With nothing left to cope with, we lose our sense of reality and soon after, we lose recognition of our spouse, children, friends and even ourselves.

u>THE FACT: An Interest Bearing Account
"The wise old owl."

The functional MRI and supported by the Active Study, which is Advanced Cognitive Training in Vital Elderly, has proven the fixed back account theory to be wrong, as is the old dog story. Our brain is like an interest bearing account. If invested smartly, our bank account increases or at least remains stable.

Several American Academy of Neurology Studies showed that effective interventions to prevent Alzheimer's through supplements and food must be started before sixty-five or it was too late. However, a long-running study called Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly (ACTIVE) disproved this. It took 2832 patients, average age of seventy-six, and gave one group memory lessons, organization skills, and reaction time tests to perform. In one group no training at all. Two years later, the group that did the memorization did 50% better than the controlled. Groups with organization skills did 75% better than the base group, and finally reaction time group did 300% better. Yes, investing wisely in brain activity pays dividends! The ACTIVE study showed that surviving neurons in the elderly expanded dendritic trees which proves physiologically and pathologically that even aging brain neurons have the capacity to react to cell loss or to increasing activity by growing new synapses.

How the Brain Works

The Brain's cortex, made up of cells only the thickness of a linen napkin, include one hundred billion neurons with approximately one thousand to ten thousand connections per neuron. These connections are communication wires. The cortex is the grey matter; the connections are the white matter of the brain.

Many have thought the loss of brain weight is primarily due to a loss of cells. However, the main mass loss seems to occur as a result of a loss of communication wires or dendrites. Why is this important? Because memory is stored in the dendrite bulb, not in the cell bodies and the good news is dendrite growth can occur at any age.

If seen in 3D, one can see a cell with hundreds of portals receiving and sending messages. The functional MRI and PET scan measure the cells activity and light up or tell us where the substrate, the fuel or electrical activity, is occurring.

The bulk of the brain is its communication dendrites and axons. They can be imaged as roads, highways or bridges that connect cities, the neurons. Each part of the brain, as we have previously seen, has special functions; one mainly for sight, another for motor activity, etc. What recent science has shown us is that there is a great deal of elasticity called neuroplasticity in the brain. It is like the Constitution of the United States that has "an elastic clause" which allows for two hundred year old laws to adapt dealing with new-age problems. The same is true for the brain, it is neuroplasticity and neurogenesis. Both occur when the brain is challenged, much like our muscles. Yes, we can have the Arnold Schwarzenegger brain at sixty, seventy, and eighty if it is challenged!

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At the same time, inactivity, boredom (or being a bore), laziness and social isolation can cause just the opposite. Atrophy, loss of brain reserve with final bankruptcy, will occur. One may also imagine it as the roads and highways slowly becoming run over by weeds and eventually decaying. Thus, without stimulation we lose our dendrites, we lose brain weight and brain size. In time with atrophy of the roads comes starvation of the cells, this is the atrophic effect. If not used, it dies. "Use it or loose it."

Neurogenesis, the addition of brain cells, is stimulated by several neurotropic factors and occurs in many parts of the brain, but, in particular, to the most important sections of the brain the hippocampus, (the memory and learning center of the brain). This is the Fort Knox, the central bank where storing, borrowing, and accounting and learning occur. It is the area most devastated by Alzheimer's. In neurogenesis, stem cells were stimulated to migrate to the area plentifully vascularized and then another local tropic factor causes them to transform in adult active new brain cells to take on the challenge.

Neuroplasticity is another process whereby the neuron cells sprout new connections to take messages and transmit the messages more easily.

To increase or maintains one's brain capacity takes effort; once again, "use it or to lose it!"

"The Anti-Alzheimer's Prescription" and the DEAR program offer a guide to create an interest bearing account and preventing Alzheimer's disease through diet, exercise, mental agility tasks and prayer and meditation. For more helpful information about this program please visit www.DEARprogram.com. or Anti-alzheimer's.com

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The Fortanasce Neurology Center is dedicated to providing quality patient care with unrelenting attention to clinical excellence, promoting wellness and an unparalleled compassion and commitment to assure the very best healthcare to all those in need with disorders of the Nervous System.