Brain rewires itself if half of it is removed, scientists discover

A group of scientists studying adult human beings who had half of their brains removed during their childhood, discovered that the part of the brain that remained, rewired itself in a way that it formed strong links between the remaining networks in the brain and helped the person function as if the other half of the brain was not missing. According to reports, the study was conducted on 6 individuals in their early 20s and 30s but were in the age groups between 3 months and 11 years of age when they had their hemispherectomies.

Brain rewires itself if the other hemisphere is removed

The participating people were instructed to lie down in an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scanner as it measures the brain activity by looking for certain changes in the blood flow of a human being. The technique used in the scanner is dependent on the fact that neural activity and cerebral blood flow have a direct connection, for example when an area of the brain is in use, blood flow to that particular area also increases.

During the study that was being conducted, the six individuals were asked to try and not fall asleep while the scientists monitored the continuous activity of the brain while at rest. The team involved in this project studied areas of the brain known certain functions related to vision, emotion, movement and cognition.

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The scientists also compared data procured at Caltech Brain Imaging Centre and data of approximately 1500 brains from the Brain Genomics Superstruct Project (a project specifically formulated to help scientists compare and look into information relating to things such as genetic variation, behaviour and function of the brain.

According to reports, the team hoped to find weak connections in individuals with only one half of the brain since many of those connections usually require both hemispheres of the brain instead they discovered the complete opposite and found the normal activities going on in the brain along with stronger connections than the control that participants had between different networks.

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An effort to help people with brain injuries

Lynn Paul, who is heading the hemispherectomy research programme at Caltech stated that she along with her team were hoping to broaden the research area in order to better understand how the brain developed, organised and functioned in individuals. She further added that they are trying to understand the principles of the brain reorganization in order to try and create ways and means to help people with brain injuries.

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(With inputs from agencies)