Research on brain diseases: Lanka in front
The Sunday Times gets a glimpse of the first-ever 'Brain-Bank' at the Sri Jayewardenepura University
Tiny red and blue-capped containers and several scientific publications in top international journals have placed Sri Lanka in a niche by itself.
With the world concentrating on that all-important ‘command centre’ of the central nervous system which governs everything we do, the Sri Jayewardenepura University’s Interdisciplinary Centre for Innovation in Biotechnology & Neuroscience has taken a lead in the race to shed light on the diseases that affect the human brain and what can be done to ward them off.
The first-ever ‘Brain Bank’ is what we are privy to glimpse, having been led down the stairs to a basement-room of the centre with its rows of red and blue-capped bottles and refrigerators. The centre is headed by Director Prof. Ranil de Silva who is also the Principal Investigator of the Genetic Diagnostic & Research Laboratory and Human Brain Tissue and DNA Repository of the Department of Anatomy.
Prof. de Silva and his team, working closely with several international partners, have come up with some interesting findings not only after looking at aging Sri Lankan brains but also those of Indians. Their forays into the pathways of brain research have shown that the burden of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), both in Sri Lanka and India is on par with the west. They have also identified possible genetic biomarkers (genes) which may indicate a pre-disposition towards brain diseases such as dementia, stroke and cerebral small vessel disease. The international partners were from India, South Korea, Australia and the Netherlands.
The possible brain protective effects of the frequent consumption of pure black tea and moderate consumption of green-yellow vegetables have also come forth through these doctoral research studies of Dr. Printha Kentheeswaran Wijesinghe, while indicating that meditation may have a positive effect on brain health.
“With evidence that such natural products are neuroprotectors, it could be a stepping-stone in developing a neutraceuticals-based industry in Sri Lanka for healthy brain aging,” urges Prof. de Silva.
These findings are crucial in the light of one new case of dementia being diagnosed every four seconds around the world and stroke killing every six seconds, someone, somewhere, regardless of age or gender, across the world. “After the age of 65, 1 in 4 men and 1 in 3 women are at risk of developing a stroke or dementia or both,” reminds Prof. de Silva, explaining that through their research, the first-ever brain autopsy study undertaken in South Asia, they explored the vascular and vascular genetic risk factors and cerebrovascular pathologies.
So the simple take home message from Prof. de Silva especially to the younger generation is to have healthy, natural food such as vegetables, fruits and black or green tea and keep away from junk food. “Use your brain actively, indulging in mathematics or reading to keep AD at bay, for now we have proof through our research.”
Working in tandem Dr. K. Sunil Kumara of the Colombo South (Kalubowila) Teaching Hospital’s Judicial Medical Office, it was Printha as part of Prof. de Silva’s team who spent long hours at the hospital observing autopsies, gathering information from the relatives of the deceased and with her eye to the microscope, scrutinising slides back at the university.
While surmising that most probably, this research over four long years, is the biggest brain study worldwide and verily so in the region, Prof. de Silva details how both cadaveric blood and brain specimens were screened and scrutinised after noting down case histories and talking to relatives about the deceased patients’ lifestyles.
“Postmortem biopsies are the gold standard,” he points out, explaining that very early on he felt that the diseases which affect the brain such as stroke and dementia could be due to cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors. “I foresaw the necessity for my team to delve into this type of research, at a time when there were only few scientific articles. We have got our credentials right.”
Thus the team’s hard work has now borne fruit with top journals picking up their findings and also billing Prof. de Silva as a speaker at widely-attended conferences.
The latest research emanating from the centre titled ‘Vascular Contributions in Alzheimer’s Disease-Related Neuropathological Changes: First Autopsy Evidence from a South Asian Aging Population’ and ‘Cytoskeletal Pathologies of Age-Related Diseases between Elderly Sri Lankan (Colombo) and Indian (Bangalore) Brain Samples’ have very recently been published in the reputed ‘Journal of Alzheimer's Disease’ (Impact Factor 4.15) ranked the 68th of 256 journals on Neurosciences and the ‘Current Alzheimer Research’(Impact Factor 3.933) ranked as the 34th of 192 journals on Clinical Neurology and 69th of 256 journals on Neurosciences worldwide respectively.
Back in 2006, the World Scientific Press based in London, United Kingdom, had published the ‘Therapeutic Applications of Ceylon Tea: Potential and Trends’ and in 2008, the Journal of Chinese Pharmaceutical Sciences, the ‘Therapeutic effects of flavonoids from Ceylon green tea on hypoxic human brain epithelial cells’.
Prof. de Silva, meanwhile, representing his team, will speak on ‘Banking the brain and blood: A Sri Lankan emerging era of collaborative research --- what the East can offer the West’ at Neuroscience 2016, the 46th annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience from November 12-16 in San Diego, California, United States of America and ‘Culture and lifestyle factors in cognitive screening and neuropathology of aging: A South Asian experience’ at the World Federation of Neurology Research on Dementia Group at the Conference on ‘Brain Aging and Dementia in Developing Countries’ in Nairobi from December 6-9.
He has already held up the local model during a lecture he delivered at the 34th Annual Meeting of the Indian Academy of Neurosciences at the National Brain Research Centre, Manesar, India from October 19-21, which had been picked up by the prestigious Times of India and Hindustan Times. Last year, he had given a round of talks in China.