Traumatic Brain Injury Research
A professor at the University of Wisconsin says that fruit flies could possibly hold the key to understanding brain injuries in humans. David Wassarman is a professor of cell and regenerative biology at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health who studies flies in relation to his traumatic brain injury research. During the McArdle Seminar in Cancer Biology, Wassarman stated flies are “humans with wings.”
Fruit flies have a much more basic immune structure than humans do, but still similar, Wassarman states. By understanding the fruit flies, he claims that it could help to understand traumatic brain injuries in humans.
There are two main types of injuries that Wassarman distinguishes between, primary and secondary injuries. He cites that the most common causes of the 1.7 million cases of traumatic brain injury every year are automobile accidents and falls. These brain injuries cause cognitive problems, physical problems, and brain cell death. (Alexander, 2014)
The flies are used in experiments by being given traumatic injuries and, since fruit flies have such a short lifespan, they can be examined during their entire life. They have found that age has an effect on mortality being that the older flies have a higher rate of dying when faced with a traumatic brain injury than younger flies. This information shows that there might be reason to treat older humans differently than younger humans with such injuries.
“I’m hoping that what we are doing with flies will lead to new therapies in humans,” Wassarman stated. (Alexander, 2014).
Have you or a loved one experienced a serious brain injury? Call Randy Rozek today at 414-374-4444
Sources:
University of Wisconsin
Badger Herald
