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In broad daylight, it is difficult to hide secrets, and scientific progress is often inseparable from the development of technology, and it is often inseparable from some coincidences.
No, a new study has discovered an unknown fourth layer of meningeal structure in the brain at this very moment.
So what exactly are the meninges?
One of the most wonderful creatures in nature is humans, who are not only the kings of animals, but also highly intelligent creatures, whose wisdom is mainly based on the brain.
It can be said that among all living things, the brain has the largest intelligence gap between species, and the human brain in particular is unique.
No, a new study proves this again, because researchers have found the only meningeal structure in the human brain in the biological world, which is the strongest evidence that the human brain is considered unique.
So, what exactly is this thing called a meninge?
Could researchers indirectly use this discovery to rewrite human biology textbooks?
Researchers did a "deep dig" into the brain.
The complexity of the brain can be described as unparalleled in the world, and it is this that makes the brain a "silent stone" in the medical world, whether for medical or scientific researchers, the study of the brain is a bottomless pit, and the ancients described this "strange thing" vividly.
Someone once said that people have four irons, one liver, two lungs, three kidneys and four gall bladders, and the first three organs weigh up to seventy or eighty pounds, while the fourth organ weighs less than one pound.
Another said, "Man has three great heads, big bones, and bigger brains."
You can see how amazing the brain is.
In human organisms, no matter how magical the brain is, it is inseparable from the protection of the meninges, which are divided into three layers, and it is these three layers of meninges that provide a solid "house" for the brain.
These three layers of meninges are divided into dura mater, arachnoid membrane, and leptomeninges, the dura mater is close to the skull, relatively hard, and plays a supporting role, the arachnoid mater is located between the dura mater and the leptomeninges, which plays a role in protecting the brain, and the leptomeninges are close to the brain tissue, such as comparing the brain to a house, the leptomeninges are curtains.
As long as one layer of the meninges in the brain is damaged, there will undoubtedly be shaking of the brain in the cranial cavity, which will cause the brain to be damaged by detaching from the meninges.
Because of this, the brain and meninges are like a "one-night couple", inseparable.
As long as the brain is injured, the probability of meningeal injury doubles, because the consequences of meningeal injury are more serious.
And all over the world, brain injuries are non-healing.
Only in South America is there an ant's meninges that allow the injured brain to heal on its own, which shows the importance of the meninges.
But in the latest issue of the journal Science in October 2017, an article on brain research caught the world's attention because researchers discovered that there is a very special fourth layer of meningeal structure in the human brain, the subarachnoid lymphangi-like structure (SLYM).
Since the birth of mankind, people have never stopped studying the brain, and brain research has attracted the attention of experts, scholars and scientific researchers.
And not so long ago, researchers discovered meninges in the human brain that are only found in vertebrates.
This meningeal is the same as the meninges of other vertebrates, and from X-rays, the shape of this meningeal is similar to that of the cerebral cortex, about 5 cm long and 0.5 cm wide, and this meninge is the SLYM meningeum.
Meningeal structures control the exchange of cerebrospinal fluid and blood substances.
As we all know, the brain plays a very important role in the human body, it has the ability to control the physiological functions of the human body, and it is also the main nerve control center of the human body.
Not only does it coordinate cooperation between cells, but it also coordinates various parts of the body, so the brain is as important to the human body as the helmsman is to the vessel, and no tiny concept escapes its control.
Because of the importance of the brain, there are countless people who want to study the brain, and I believe that at least some of them know that it is not easy to study the brain, because the meninges in the brain are a huge obstacle.
The meninges are not only found in the brain, but also in the spine, and the brain is connected to the meninges of the spine, which is why the brain is able to control the body autonomously.
The reason why the brain can control the body on its own is that the human spinal cord itself can control the body, including the spinal bones that make up the spinal cord, and the arachnoid membrane that surrounds the spinal cord, which is not an ordinary membrane.
It is extracted from the flow of lumbar puncture material.
In deep brain research, the importance of the meninges is self-evident, not only as a barrier to the brain, but also as a special function, that is, the ability of cerebrospinal fluid to flow from the surface of the brain to the spine, so that lesions in the brain can be detected.
Secondly, the meninges also have a special function, that is, it can control the exchange of substances between the brain and the outside world, when the brain is damaged, the meninges will reject external bacteria and other substances that are harmful to the brain tissue.
It is this function that is why the brain is not infected.
The SLYM in this study is related to the meninges and cerebrospinal fluid, which not only controls the exchange of substances between the cerebrospinal fluid and the brain, but also monitors the blood for the presence of harmful substances.
At the beginning of the birth of the human body, the cerebrospinal fluid does not exist, and it will continue to increase as the human body grows.
Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the human body is mainly composed of substances in the blood, and this material composition is slightly different from that of brain tissue, and when there is an abnormality in the cerebrospinal fluid, neurons and brain tissue in the human body are also affected.
In order to prevent cerebrospinal fluid from adversely affecting brain tissue, the meninges appear as an important filtering substance.
The dura mater in the meninges acts as a barrier so that the brain is not affected by external substances.
The arachnoid and soft membranes can control the exchange of substances between the brain and the outside world, and under the action of the meninges, the substances in the cerebrospinal fluid will not continue to flow to the outside, and it is also because of the meninges that there is cerebrospinal fluid in the brain.
The emergence of SLYM is to create a tighter channel between the cerebrospinal fluid in the brain and the brain.
The emergence of SLYM not only plays an important role in medical research, but also contributes to the adjustment of the human immune system and the study of the brain.
It can be said that the emergence of SLYM is not only the adjustment of the meningeal barrier and material channels, but also a new turning point in brain research.
SLYM is also inextricably linked to human diseases.
There are countless different proteins in the human body, 99% of which are found in the cerebrospinal fluid, which is indispensable for cerebrospinal fluid.
Protein not only provides essential nutrients to the CSF, but also increases the viscosity of the CSF and has a significant impact on CSF production.
Some proteins in the human body are extremely complex, in fact, these proteins are brain tissue, but in order to prevent the brain tissue from binding to the cerebrospinal fluid, the brain will isolate these proteins from the cerebrospinal fluid.
The emergence of SLYM can not only promote the exchange of cerebrospinal fluid and proteins, but also show a unique function of the meninges, that is, it acts as a mediator between the brain and cerebrospinal fluid.
But the SLYM meninges are not without their limitations, as the presence of them means that the other meninges will be less functional, and the exchange between some of the body's most important proteins and cerebrospinal fluid will be slowed.
Moreover, the exchange between these proteins and cerebrospinal fluid also depends on the elasticity of the SLYM meninges, which is also dependent on this elasticity to isolate brain tissue and cerebrospinal fluid.
This means that once there is a problem with the SLYM meninges in the human body, it may affect the proteins in the cerebrospinal fluid, which will have an adverse effect on the human body, and in addition, the SLYM meninges will also have an impact on the immune regulation of the brain.
The SLYM meninges, like the meninges of the brain, act as a barrier.
When the brain is damaged, the SLYM meninges quickly deliver proteins to the brain to nourish the damaged brain tissue, and it also sends immune cells to the brain to prevent infection.
However, when the brain is severely damaged, the SLYM meninges are nothing more than an impermeable diaphragm that cannot be connected with the meninges, and the body cannot repair the damaged brain tissue through the SLYM meninges.
Because of this, the SLYM meninges can also affect the condition of human lesions, which can isolate both human brain tissue and immune cell input.
Therefore, when the body's immune system is affected by infectious diseases, doctors cannot observe the brain lesions through the SLYM meninges, nor can they make an accurate diagnosis for the patient.
This condition is also the reason why the meninges of SLYM are so little known, and its importance is only demonstrated when the body's immune system is affected by infectious diseases.
In addition, the meninges of SLYM also have a certain impact on the treatment of human diseases.
Doctors usually use the SLYM meninges to perform a meningeal test to see the condition of brain lesions.
Once the SLYM meninges are damaged, doctors will not be able to make an accurate diagnosis through the SLYM meninges, which will have a significant impact on the patient's treatment.
It is precisely because of this that the emergence of SLYM meninges not only provides new perspectives for medical research, but also poses new challenges for the treatment of human diseases.
epilogue
Although the emergence of SLYM provides a new direction for the study of the human brain, it is still full of mysteries and challenges.
in the future