Injecting rats with aromatic-turmerone, a chemical normally found in turmeric, showed heightened activity in regions of the brain linked with nerve cell growth.

The compound could push brain cells to proliferate but it's unclear whether it could be used to cure symptoms of or stall degenerative brain diseases such as dementia or Alzheimer's, said a team of researchers from the Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine in Julich, Germany.

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The team conducted a separate trial and found the neural stem cells of the rodents grew when flooded in a solution of aromatic-turmerone and were able to specialize into specific brain cell types faster.

"It is interesting that it might be possible to boost the effectiveness of the stem cells with aromatic-turmerone," said Dr. Maria Adele Rueger, a researcher on the team. "And it is possible this in turn can help boost repair in the brain."

Whether the findings could be applied to humans is unclear, said a researcher not affiliated with the team.

Meanwhile, researchers from the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland have made a rat with a completely severed spinal cord walk again with electrical signals instead of healing the damaged part of the cord.

The project works on the principle that the body needs electrical impulses to be operative. By sending electrical signals down the spinal cord into the motor neurons of the nervous system, the brain moves the body. But when the spinal cord is severed, the signals can no longer travel to the organ or muscle, paralyzing the part of the body beyond the cut.

A number of rats had their spinal cords cut in the middle of their backs, utterly rendering the lower limbs of the animal unable to move. The team then implanted flexible electrodes into the spinal cord of the animal where it was cut to send artificial signals down the cord.

The team was able to figure out how to prompt the rat's spine for an even stride by cautiously reviewing how electrical stimulation impacts the rat's leg movements, even taking into account complications in a surface such as a stairs.

Tagsbrain, Brain damage, brain function, Spice, Brain regeneration, neurons, Nerve cells, stem cells, Stem Cell Regeneration