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Why this mammal eats its own brain, 2022, Dino Grandoni

Discussion in 'Other health news and research' started by CRG, Nov 30, 2022.

  1. CRG

    CRG Senior Member (Voting Rights)

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    Location:
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    Washington Post: Animalia

    Why this mammal eats its own brain — and why it could matter for you
    Dino Grandoni

    “It’s a crazy animal,” said Dechmann, a behavioral ecologist at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Germany. “We can learn a lot from the shrews.”

    To prepare for the depths of winter when food is scarce, many animals slow down, sleep through the cold or migrate to warmer locales.

    Not the common shrew. To survive the colder months, the animal eats away at its own brain, reducing the organ by as much as a fourth, only to regrow much of brain matter in the spring.

    The process of shrinking and expanding the brain and other organs with seasons — dubbed Dehnel’s phenomenon — allows animals to reduce calorie-consuming tissue when temperatures drop. Researchers have discovered seasonal shrinkage in the skulls of other small, high-metabolism mammals, including weasels and, most recently, moles.

    The shrew’s incredible shrinking brain is more than just a biological curiosity. Understanding how these animals are able to restore their brain power may help doctors treat Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis and other neurodegenerative diseases in humans.

    “In the beginning, I couldn’t quite grasp it,” said John Dirk Nieland, an associate professor of health science and technology who is now researching drugs designed to mimic shrews’ brain-altering chemistry in humans.

    Full article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/11/30/shrews-shrink-regrow-own-brains/
     
    EzzieD, MeSci, boolybooly and 6 others like this.

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