The Natural Inhibition of Neuron Regeneration - my personal thoughts

They say when neurons become damaged or die, they don't regenerate.

Neurons are nervous system cells that are connected by their axons. When an axon is damaged, the damaged sections end portion dies and leaves the remaining neuron with a stump. These axons can regrow, but there may be an amino acid present known as GABA that inhibits such growth.

 GABA is the acronym for gamma-aminobutyric acid. It is speculated that GABA along with neuro inhibitory signals may be what prevents neuron regeneration in most regions of the brain, but the true

reason is unknown.

While conducting research into this topic, I found that GABA is present in other locations of the body and acts as a regulatory hormone. It got me thinking that as an inhibitor, that means the lack thereof would result in overgrowth of cells. Following this, I got to thinking about tumors.

When cells grow old and become damaged, they die, and new cells take their place. Sometimes the orderly process breaks down and abnormal or damaged cells grow and multiply when they shouldn't. These cells may form tumors.

Although most neurons don’t have the luxury of being replaced by a new cell, they can still become damaged. I dove a little deeper into this subject focusing on the brain and found that the cause of the development of brain cancer is largely unknown, but the risk is low.

It makes me wonder, because most neurons don't regenerate, after being damaged they remain in that state. Maybe GABA aggressively inhibits regeneration at neural damage sites because the body is trying to prevent a tumor. Perhaps GABA is the reason why the risk of brain cancer is low.

These are my thoughts on neuro regeneration, and I hope I gave a new perspective on the subject.

You never know what may be connected under the surface.

Sources

Weishaupt, N & Zhang, A. (2016). Why doesn't your brain heal like your skin? Frontiers. Retrieved from https://kids.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frym.2016.00022

Purves, D & Augustine, GJ, & Fitzpatrick, D. (2001). Generation of neurons in the adult brain. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK10920/

Jewett, BE & Sharma, S. (2022). Physiology GABA. StatPearls. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK513311/#!po=5.55556

Markman, M. (2022). Brain cancer causes and risk factors. Cancer Treatment Centers of America. Retrieved from https://www.cancercenter.com/cancer-types/brain-cancer/risk-factors

(2021). What is cancer? National Cancer Institute. retrieved from