Here’s another interesting thing about the human body – a new study published in Nature found that when nerve cells are under duress, their other cell friends help them out.
Scientists say struggling nerve cells get a little help in the form of energy-producing mitochondria from brain cells. These are called astrocytes, star-shaped glial cells which assist neurons in recovering after injuries such as strokes. Astrocytes take in and get rid of neurons’ discarded mitochondria. It produces mitochondria and pushes it out into “the soup that surrounds cells.” During a stroke or when starved of glucose and oxygen, neurons take in the astrocyte-made organelles.
Scientists also found organelles moving into damaged cells in other parts of the body, including the lungs, heart and liver. Neuroscientist Jarek Aronowski of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston says the astrocyte-to-neuron transfer is quite shocking. Nobody knew brain cells could be so magnanimous!