Aussies Leading Research on the Brain
Posted By Clod on October 28, 2011
Researchers at the Queensland Brain Institute in Brisbane have shown that the the anti-depressant drug Prozac protects laboratory mice against the devastating hereditary brain disorder Huntington’s disease, according to an article from The Age on 16 October.
The drug maintains normal brain function by stimulating nerve regeneration in the brains of the mice. It is hoped that Prozac’s protective and restorative powers could prevent Huntington’s developing in humans.
ABC News Online has reported that researchers from the Hobart Menzies Research Institute have linked lack of sunlight to multiple sclerosis.
The researchers found that people in Tasmania are much more likely to get the disease than people living in tropical Queensland and they believe this may be due to a vitamin D deficiency. Professor Simon Foote, director of the institute, says vitamin D supplements could help but without testing to see who is predisposed to the disease, the whole population would have to take them.
University of Melbourne neurologist Terence O’Brien has recently won an international brain research award worth $130,000 to further his studies into whether depression and anxiety can worsen the most common form of epilepsy, according to an article in The Age on 17 October. Assistant Professor O’Brien is also investigating whether stress early in life can predispose people to temporal lobe epilepsy, which is often resistant to medication.
Meanwhile, other Australian scientists are continuing their pioneering research into other neurological conditions. Biochemists at the University of Queensland are working to understand why alcohol only damages some parts of the brain. Sydney neuroscientist Michael Breakspear is part of an international team trying to uncover why people suffer differing degrees of disability after damaging the same region of the brain. Adelaide researchers are trying to prove the benefits of the muscle relaxant Botox for treating children suffering from cerebral palsy, and a study by the Australian National University is looking at the nature and cases of depressive illnesses in people who have Parkinson’s disease.
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