The Importance of Glial Cells
HBOT brings dissolved oxygen to the glial level that is important in treating brain damage. HBOT helps redistribute blood to the non-ischemic areas around the lesions, preventing these areas from being harmed. These areas are generally affected by the response of the brain to injury which is a vasoconstriction, making them more susceptible to ischemic damage also, thereby continuing to spread the damage beyond its original area. HBOT prevents this stealing" of blood, reducing intra cranial pressure and raising tissue oxygen flow.
For more information,
The role of Hyperbaric-Oxygen Therapy for intra cranial pathology in Intensive Care.
Glial cells are important and preventing their damage is necessary.
Lowly Glia Strengthen Brain Connections
STANFORD -- Once dismissed as mere padding, cells known as glia may be essential for the correct wiring of the brain. This is the conclusion of a study reported in the Sept. 12 issue of Science by researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine.
Postdoctoral fellow Frank Pfrieger and Dr. Barbara Barres, associate professor of neurobiology, used pure populations of nerve cells and glia to show that, by themselves, the nerve cells connected together poorly, but the combination of the two cell types resulted in strong connections between nerve cells.
In the brain, such connections allow nerve cells to pass along messages about our every sensation, thought and movement.
Glia make up approximately 90 percent of the cells in the human brain, and yet researchers have assigned mainly passive functions to them. Some glia wrap around nerve cells and insulate them with a protein called myelin. Glia at synapses act both as a physical barrier that prevents crossed wires and as a disposal unit that mops up extra messenger molecules released by nerve cells.
The nerve cells chosen for the Stanford study -- retinal ganglion cells -- lead from the eyes deep into the brain. Barres is using them as representatives of a large class of nerve cells in the brain: those that use a chemical messenger called glutamate to send a positive, or excitatory, signal.
It is also possible, she said, that glia control the strength of synapses in the fully developed brain, beefing up some circuits and turning down others.
For more information on the above, see: Lowly Glia Strengthen Brain Connections.
There are five types of glial cells:
*Oligodendroglia, which provide the insulation (myelin) to neurons in the central nervous system.
*Schwann Cells, which provide the insulation (myelin) to neurons in the peripheral nervous system.
*Astrocyte (Astroglia), star-shaped cells that provide physical and nutritional support for neurons:
1. to clean up brain "debris";
2. to transport nutrients to neurons;
3. to hold neurons in place;
4. to digest parts of dead neurons;
5. to regulate content of extra cellular space
*Microglia, which like astrocytes, digest parts of dead neurons.
*Satellite Cells, which provide physical support to neurons in the peripheral nervous system
For more information, see Glia; The Forgotten Brain Cell
Brain Disorders/Neurological Index
