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Patient Revives After 19 Years By Rewiring Brain

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the my-favorite-organ dept.

dylanduck writes "A study of the recovery of a man who spent 19 years in a minimally conscious state has revealed the likely cause of his regained consciousness - his brain rewired itself around the injured areas into totally novel structures. It suggests the human brain shows far greater potential for recovery and regeneration then ever suspected." From the article: "There were ... significant changes between scans taken just two months after the recovery, and the most recent, at 18 months. Some of the new pathways had receded again, while others seem to have strengthened and taken over as Wallis continued to improve."

7 of 419 comments (clear)

  1. Neuronal remodeling by BWJones · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Neuroscientists in the epilepsy and learning and memory communities have known for years about the nervous systems ability to rewire and remodel in response to deafferentation. In fact, the reluctance to believe in this by other members of the neuroscience community (vision community) led to some two decades of misunderstanding of retinal degenerative diseases until we came along and demonstrated conclusively in the retina that remodeling also occurs. The deal is that neurons need input. They either get it via glutamatergic signaling or calcium mediated signaling in normal circumstances. When those signaling mechanisms are disturbed, neurons either rewire seeking additional input, or they die.

    --
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    1. Re:Neuronal remodeling by Alexandra+Erenhart · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I was tought in biology class back in highschool than nerves has the ability to regenerate themselves over time. A friend of mine suffered a great injury on one of his arms because of an accident, that left him with a piece of titanium on it and a paralized hand. He couldn't move it because his nerves got cut. But after some time he regained movility of his hand and fingers, as the axons grew and reconnected. Seems obvious to me that brain cells can do the same.

  2. Limiting factors in rewiring rates? by Boo5000. · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I would like to know what limits the rewiring rate in such a state? Is it metabolic? Or does the rate of new axon growth and synapse formation follow the normal growth rate of neural cells late in life - which, as I recall, is fairly slow?. This was obviously a long process, but was there a certain "critical point" reached during the rewiring that, once passed, assured recovery of functions? Is this subconscious dreaming or thinking that manipulates signaling, and could simple brain simulaion methods achieve a similar goal in the absence of such a process? Hopefully such a case generates academic interest that will help progress this area of brain research.

  3. We can rebuild him.... by dedeman · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Well, this is absolutley incredible news, but I am curious if some would see it as being a survival mechinism?

    Except for Rip Van Winkle, I don't think that a 19 year period of repair and adaption would really lend itself to survival. Not to say that this isn't miraculous, but, I'm sure the recovery time will be significant.

    Besides, would you really want to wake up 20 years older, with years of rehabilitation to look forward to? I would be more concerned with the ethics of keeping someone alive for that long.

  4. TFA: Rip Van Winkle by sm62704 · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Wallis regained the ability to move and communicate, and started getting to know his now 20 year old daughter - a difficult process considering he believed himself to be 19, and that Ronald Reagan was still president.

    I was in a real bad wreck in 1976, my brain hardly worked for a year or more, but I got better. I wonder what a scan of it would look like? Would it be wierdly wired like this guy's?

    Few people I know would be surprised to find my brain was wired wierd.

    Since then, the thought has occurred to me that I could have actually gone into a coma and the last forty years could have been a dream. But then, any of you could have had an accident and not know it, and be dreaming this. So there's little point in not behaving as if reality is real, especially considering the incredibly high probability that this IS real.

    I wonder if he dreamed?
    --
    mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
  5. El bulto by Spy+der+Mann · · Score: 4, Interesting

    There was a mexican movie (ficticious) about a 19-yo guy who went into coma in 1971 and woke up in 1992, having to cope with a grown up family, an older (and remarried) wife, and of course, new political times.

    It was called "El bulto" (the bag). Very interesting movie.

  6. TV Show? by Joao · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I saw a TV show about this guy some time ago (PBS? Discovery? National Geographic?). Yes, he is awake, but the poor guy is in very bad shape. He has very limited use of his body; his brain is unable to store any new information for more than a few seconds; and his frontal lobe is basically gone so he has no sense of boundaries when communicating with people. His 20-year old daughter is his primary caretaker, and since he thinks he's a 19 year-old and is unable to remember that she is his daughter, he keeps asking her for sexual favors and groping her any chance he has. He is also very verbally abusive towards her and pretty much everyone else.

    Yes, he's no longer in a coma, but he is far from functional.