[Explanation] The human brain bank is a strange and mysterious term for the general public. On July 3, in an old building of Anhui Medical University, China's first "Chinese Brain Bank"-National Health and Disease Human Brain Organization Resource Bank Anhui Medical University Branch (National Brain Bank An Medicine Branch) Located right here.
[Same period] Xu Shengchun, deputy director of the National Brain Bank Safety Medical Branch
Brain Bank It was in 2000, when Professor Zhou Jiangning was introduced into our Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, and then he initiated the organization to set up the first Chinese brain bank in our country.
[Commentary] According to Professor Xu Shengchun, the Anhui Medical University branch of the Chinese brain bank has been developing slowly for more than a decade at the beginning of its establishment. It can even be described as "stagnation". The reason is limited by financial support and talent support, but more importantly, people lack awareness of brain donation.
[Same period] Xu Shengchun, deputy director of the National Brain Bank Safety Medical Branch
It is very difficult to develop the brain bank, mainly from the source of (brain samples). Since there is no meaningful and valuable brain to study, it is of course useless to rely on other animals (brains). In the end, all the research must be done. For humans, the collection of human brain specimens, because for many years in the feudal society, human consciousness was not enough.
[Commentary] Until 2016, ten domestic medical schools jointly established the Chinese Human Brain Bank Collaboration Alliance, and Anhui Medical University joined it. The "Human Brain Bank" has also developed rapidly.
[Same period] Xu Shengchun, deputy director of the National Brain Bank Safety Medical Branch
So in recent years, there have been a lot of people who donated voluntarily, especially those with illnesses. For example, those with mental illnesses, this of course includes depression. Everyone knows this depression, and then like Parkinson’s disease, AD (Alzheimer’s disease) Disease), the donation of brains for these diseases is of great significance to the study of brains (disease) in our country.
[Explanation] It is understood that at present, the National Brain Bank Anyi Branch has stored 22 cases of human brain specimens obtained by means of donation. The obtained brain specimens will also be stored in different ways in accordance with international standards for scientific researchers to use.
[Same period] Wu Xueyan, a researcher of the National Bank of Anhui Medical University
It is first divided into left and right halves after the brain is taken out, and then the left side is generally used for freezing preservation, and the right side is fixed with formalin after paraffin preservation. Both of these preservation methods can be stored for a long time and can be preserved Decades. Then this preservation is a part, and then we have to take out some, and then do some pathological examination, that is, from taking to preservation, to pathological examination, it takes two people two months.
[Commentary] Today, the human brain is still the most mysterious organ in the human body. For Alzheimer's disease, depression and other brain diseases, the use of laboratory animals to conduct brain research, the results are difficult to directly extend to the human brain.
[Same period] Wu Xueyan, a researcher of the National Bank of Anhui Medical University
In fact, these samples are very precious to us, because the difference between the human brain and the animal brain is very large. We now spend a lot of money on our animal brain and invest a lot of money in research, but it finally studies The results cannot be directly applied to the human brain. So the human brain is the most direct research method for us, so the results it reflects are also the most direct.
【Explanation】In Wu Xueyan's opinion, due to the deep-rooted traditional funeral customs, and many people's insufficient understanding of the significance of brain donation, some old people have signed a donation agreement before their death, but after the old man's death, their children regret and don't want to donate. Such a situation is not uncommon, and there are very few successful donations.
[Same period] Wu Xueyan, a researcher of the National Bank of Anhui Medical University
Our big difficulty now is a sample source problem. If there are too few sample sources, we cannot do much research and implementation. There are too few sample sources, we also hope that the public can donate (have) more support and understanding to the body, which will help us to carry out research on these diseases faster, and then find new discoveries, and then put The new findings are extended to some clinics and make more contributions to its prevention and treatment.
Liu Honghe Anhui Hefei Report
Editor in charge: [Li Yuxin]