{"id":43976,"date":"2012-05-06T15:19:50","date_gmt":"2012-05-06T18:19:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/?p=43976"},"modified":"2013-09-18T17:49:22","modified_gmt":"2013-09-18T20:49:22","slug":"a-busy-brain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/a-busy-brain\/","title":{"rendered":"A busy brain"},"content":{"rendered":"
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ARTHUR TOGA \/ UCLA<\/span>Artistic rendering of brain functions: science maps the brain\u2019s ability to adapt and regenerateARTHUR TOGA \/ UCLA<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Studies that focus on how the brain functions have expanded their horizons in the last few decades. For example, studies have been conducted on the limits of the brain\u2019s adaptation to traumas and environmental changes. FAPESP has collaborated extensively with the advances made in this field. The Inter-Institutional Cooperation for the Support of Brain Research (CinAPCe) is the Foundation\u2019s latest initiative in this respect. The acronym alludes to the homonym \u201csynapse,\u201d the structure through which the nerve impulse travels from one neuron to the other. This network congregates groups from six S\u00e3o Paulo State institutions involved in different fields of knowledge. The project\u2019s starting point was the acquisition of four high field magnetic resonance imaging machines, with twice as much power as older existing machines in Brazil. The new machines are being used to broaden studies being conducted on the mechanisms of epilepsy in the Brazilian population.<\/p>\n

Nearly 20 thousand images on the functioning of the brain have already been captured by the machines. These images support the public and private hospitals that provide medical care for epileptics. \u201cWe have a significant number of complex images that will generate studies for many years,\u201d says neurologist Fernando Cendes, head of the neuroimaging laboratory at the Medical School of the State University of Campinas (Unicamp), one of the creators of the project. Various papers on methodological issues have already been submitted to scientific publications, such as variations in the brain images \u2013 from different machines – of the same patient, or the influence of noise produced by magnetic resonance equipment on the results of the exams. The groups involved in the CInAPCe keep in touch by means of teleconferences, during which they plan and evaluate the task of analyzing various types of images obtained from the equipment. \u201cEach group analyzes a category of images and now we are increasing the capacity of our computers so that we can run the information faster,\u201d he says. According to Cendes, the importance of the program is not restricted to the scientific findings. \u201cSome things are not visible in the short term. I am referring to the conditions of the structure being offered in relation to the training of researchers,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

The decision to elect epilepsy as the object of the study was a natural choice. Epilepsy had been extensively studied by the project participants. The CInAPCe program began to be created in the late 1990s, and took off as of 2007, through the acquisition of the equipment; each machine cost approximately US$ 2 million. One of the machines was acquired by the network\u2019s private partner, namely the Israeli Institute of Study and Research, linked to S\u00e3o Paulo\u2019s Albert Einstein Hospital. Three other machines were installed at the Medical School of Unicamp, at the Medical School of the University of S\u00e3o Paulo (FMUSP), in the city of S\u00e3o Paulo, and at the Medical School of the University of S\u00e3o Paulo (FMRP) in the city of Ribeir\u00e3o Preto. The network also includes researchers from the University of S\u00e3o Paulo in the city of S\u00e3o Carlos. These researchers are conducting studies of experimental models on rats and apes. The Federal University of S\u00e3o Paulo (Unifesp), which has a long-standing tradition in basic research on epilepsy, is also a member of the network.<\/p>\n

The selection of these institutions was based on their tradition of conducting research on neuroscience and on their training programs for researchers. FMUSP, for example, has dedicated itself to experimental neurology for many decades. The first steps in this respect were taken by such professors as Eros Abrantes Enhart and Orlando Aidar, neuroanatomists from the 1950s interested in the regenerative capacity of the nervous system. \u201c They have always fostered students\u2019 \u00a0interest in research, and many professors from FMUSP were influenced by them,\u201d says professor Gerson Chadi, who teaches experimental neurology and is the head of FMUSP\u2019s neurosurgical physiopathology laboratory, also known as LIM45. Chadi\u2019s research work, which focuses on neuronal plasticity and regeneration, is funded by FAPESP. Chadi has also received grants from the Foundation to attend two post-doctorate programs, one in Sweden and the other one in Canada. By resorting to experimental models for neurodegenerative diseases and to clinical projects, namely, several recent projects funded by FAPESP, Chadi has mobilized a number of research groups to motivate translational neuroscience, which bridges the gap between the laboratory bench and the patient\u2019s hospital bed. \u201cThe first papers on this topic have already been published,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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PERSONAL FILE<\/span>Antonio Spina Fran\u00e7a, from USP, and Rita Levi Montalcini, Nobel laureate for Medicine, meeting in Brazil in 1986PERSONAL FILE<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Gerson Chadi highlights the name of Antonio Spina Fran\u00e7a Netto (1927-2010), professor emeritus at the FMUSP\u2019s department of neurology, who was part of the generation that followed Eros and Aidar. Fran\u00e7a Netto was involved in doing research on cerebrospinal fluid and neurological infections. \u201cHe implemented the concept of conducting lab investigations whose results would provide patients with more immediate benefits, generally in the form of diagnosis or by increasing the knowledge of the people involved ,\u201d he states. In the mid 1980s, research on neurology, renamed neuroscience, moved significantly forward, thanks to the adoption of molecular biology methods, Chadi says. \u201cProgress in this area led to the identification of new molecules and communication mechanisms among neurons and their surrounding cells. This opened up the way to various research possibilities on the central nervous system\u2019s ability to regenerate,\u201d says the researcher. An example in this respect was the identification of the nervous cells\u2019 \u00a0growth factor, such factor having been identified by Italy\u2019s Rita Levi Montalcini \u2013 who is now 103 years old. Rita Montalcini was the laureate of the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1987. She had scientific contacts with professor Spina Fran\u00e7a and opened the doors for him to collaborate with other European researchers. Another prominent name among USP professors was Cesar Timo-Iaria (1925-2005), a specialist in electrophysiology, who helped train a generation of researchers, such as Miguel Nicolelis, a professor at Duke University, and Koichi Sameshima, a professor at FMUSP\u2019s radiology department, among others. Timo-Iaria made several important contributions. He proved that blood sugar concentration, that is, the concentration of glucose in the blood, is regulated by a neural system comprised of sensitive neurons called glicoceptors. He also proved that hunger is not triggered by hypoglycemia, but by the liver\u2019s metabolic work to prevent blood sugar levels from going down.<\/p>\n

USP\u2019s Medical School of Ribeir\u00e3o Preto, which is also participating in the CInAPCe program, produced such prominent researchers as Miguel Covian (1913-1992), an Argentine who moved to Brazil in the 1950s. He was one of the pioneers in the field of neurophysiology in Latin America, and studied under Bernardo Houssay, the Argentine researcher who was the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology laureate in 1947. Frederico Graeff was another prominent researcher; he was a specialist in neuropsychopharmacology and conducted leading studies on anxiety and panic disorders.<\/p>\n

Psychobiology
\n<\/strong>At Unifesp, the former Paulista School of Medicine, research studies on neuroscience were developed by two professors, Jos\u00e9 Ribeiro do Vale and Jos\u00e9 Leal Prado, who trained researchers such as Elisaldo Carlini, founder of the psychobiology department and creator of the Brazilian Center for Information on Psychotropic Drugs (Cebrid) research center. Sergio Tufik, one of the world\u2019s foremost specialists on sleep disorders and coordinator of the Center for Sleep Studies, was one of his students. The Center for Sleep Studies is one of the 11 Centers of Research, Innovation, and Diffusion (Cepid), funded by FAPESP. Tufik was supervised by Argentine\u2019s Miguel Covian during his master\u2019s degree program and by Carlini during his doctorate program. Argentine neuroscientist Iv\u00e1n Izquierdo worked at Unifesp in the 1970s and then continued his academic career in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, at the Federal University and at the Catholic University. Izquierdo also planted the seeds that would bloom at the S\u00e3o Paulo State institution. Esper Abr\u00e3o Cavalheiro, one of the students supervised by Izquierdo during the master\u2019s degree and doctorate program, specialized in epilepsy and developed an experimental model currently being used in the United States, England, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Australia. The model, created together with Poland\u2019s Lechoslaw Turski, is a method that induces convulsions in lab animals. The animals are given pilocarpine, an alkaloid extracted from the leaves of the jaborandi, a native Brazilian shrub. Cavalheiro is one of the leading users of FAPESP\u2019s funding instruments to foster international collaboration (see<\/em> Pesquisa FAPESP issue no. 181<\/em><\/a>).<\/p>\n

Luiz Eug\u00eanio Mello, a professor at Unifesp\u2019s department of physiology and director of the Vale Technological Institute, says that the Foundation\u2019s financial support of research studies on neuroscience is not only measured by grandiose projects. \u201cThere is a long list of researchers who have made significant contributions in this field and whose career paths were influenced by FAPESP,\u201d he says, referring to such prominent researchers as Jair Mari, of Unifesp, Wagner Gattaz, Valentim Gentil Filho, Dora Ventura and Cesar Ades, of USP. \u201cI wouldn\u00b4t have been able to do a fraction of what I did if it hadn’t been for FAPESP,\u201d says Mello, former assistant coordinator of FAPESP\u2019s Office of the Science Director in the period from 2003 to 2006. Professor Mello is currently doing research in the field of neuronal plasticity, basic acupuncture mechanisms and epilepsy, among others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Advances in neuroscience were encouraged by the Foundation","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[166],"tags":[250],"coauthors":[98],"class_list":["post-43976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-policies-st-en","tag-neuroscience"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43976\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43976"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=43976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}