3 ms·
So is that a bad thing? It says it recovered but I imagine during the meantime having less myelin would affect brain function.
by atleastoptimal 3y ago
So is that a bad thing? It says it recovered but I imagine during the meantime having less myelin would affect brain function.
- adamgordonbell 3y agoNot sure but it seems bad to me. Could it lead to increased plasticity and also have benefits?
- crazypyro 3y agoWhy does it seem bad? Less of something doesn't necessarily mean its bad. Perhaps the brain is simply making use of extraneous matter for energy or its purging out unnecessary neurons. Maybe it decreases creativity, but increases arithmetic ability. My entire point is we have no idea what the end results are, just because there's a reduction doesn't necessarily indicate a problem.
- fao_ 3y ago> Why does it seem bad? Less of something doesn't necessarily mean its bad. Myelin is pretty damn important for the brain's function. Signals go much, MUCH slower without myelin, and there are a number of clinical disease and problems that can happen thereof. One of the main effects of B12 deficiency is loss of the myelin sheath around the optic nerve causing blindness, and the psychiatric effects of losing myelin in the brain -- in addition there are a lot of disorders where a primary effect is myelin degradation / loss. It's been very well studied.
- xeonmc 3y agoDepleting your fridge is not the same as permanently destroying it.
- fao_ 3y agoB12 deficiency doesn't permanently destroy it either. It's just the body cannot produce myelin, and if that happens for a long enough period of time, the nervous system is exposed to damage that is permanent, even after the body can regenerate the myelin
- numpad0 3y agoor is it like body fat but for brain cells?
- persedes 3y agoDecrease in myelin layers around neurons are what causes MS if I'm not mistaken. It's essentially the insulation so that the electric signal does not travel in an unwanted way. I'd imagine myelin having a similar function in the brain, so there might be some signal crossing that is not supposed to happen?
- sva_ 3y agoI don't have a source handy, but believe that MS is hypothesized to be caused by the immune system attacking the myelin sheathing (autoimmune disease), so it is quite a different process.
- low_tech_punk 3y agoMy shallow understanding is that myelin improves neurons' connectivity, so the decrease of it would imply degrading performance in neural activities? Also, the myelination process happens when you learn new things, so it might be interesting to analyze how the recovery period might be exploited to facilitate learning. Would love to hear brain scientists thoughts.