Scientists urge people to donate their brains to science after death
Scientists around the world are calling on people suffering from mental illnesses such as depression and PTSD to donate their brains to research after death. It is reported by BBC News .
Recently, researchers have found a link between the shape of the human brain and mental or neurological disorders. Now experts want to develop new treatments for these disorders.
One of the largest brain banks, the Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center at McLean Psychiatric Hospital near Boston houses more than 3,000 brains. Most of the samples were obtained from people with mental or neurological disorders. Researchers are requesting samples to find new treatments for Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and other mental disorders. However, there are still not enough samples to carry out comprehensive studies.
New treatments for many mental and neurological diseases are within reach of the scientific community, according to McLean Kerry Ressler , Chief Research Fellow at McLean Hospital . However, a lack of brain tissue samples is holding back the development of these methods.
“If people think that there are no changes in the brains of those who suffer from depression or PTSD, then there is no point in donating their brains for research, because they think that nothing can be found there. But this concept is fundamentally wrong from a biological point of view, ”said Sabina Beretta , Scientific Director of the Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center.