Pathways deep in the brain make it resilient after injury
SAN FRANCISCO, CA—For days, and even years, after a person has suffered a stroke or traumatic brain injury, they have an increased risk of developing epilepsy. Now, researchers at the Gladstone Institutes have found that star-shaped cells called astrocytes in the thalamus play a key role in making mice with brain injuries susceptible to seizures. The team also analyzed human post-mortem brain tissue and showed that the same cells identified in mice might change in the thalamus of people affected by brain injury and stroke. The findings, published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, suggest that targeting proteins in these cells can prevent long-term damage that follows brain injury. “After brain injury, the thalamus is relatively under-studied compared to other brain regions,” says Jeanne Paz, PhD, an associate researcher at Gladstone and senior author of the new study. “I hope this is just the start of a lot of new research into how important this region is in determinin