Brain Bank at Bangalore

Currently, there is no cure for Alzheimer’s Disease, and other irreversible dementias. Treatment is usually only possible in the earlier stages, and focuses on reducing the impact of the symptoms; it does not remove the condition, or even slow down the progression.  The causes of these medical conditions are not known, and no clear strategy is available to prevent the onset.

Which means, research on the brain is of utmost importance, but very few people know what this entails and how we can help researchers.

Did you know, for example, how absolutely necessary human brain tissue is to researchers in this area? Apparently, when we humans went a step ahead in our brains compared to other mammals, and indeed other primates, we also became unique in the way our brain pathology evolved. So, while most research in medical fields manages to make good headway using rats and monkeys, this is not true about brain-related research. For researchers to find ways to treat and cure brain disorders, or even find out why something happens the way it does in our brains, they need to study brains.

Enter brain banks, where brains are given immediately after death, so that they can be studied.

India currently has only one brain bank, located in Bangalore. This is part of the Neuropathology Department of NIMHANS, and headed by Dr. Shankar. Visit their web page.

Bangalore-based people can sign up for brain donation, just as we sign up for eye donation.  And those not in Bangalore can, if they feel strongly enough, lobby around with other interested persons and find pathologists who can establish such a bank. Hard work, sure, but maybe you’ll be glad of it when your own brain starts acting funny, if you get that unfortunate.

Below, briefly, is my understanding of what a brain donation involves. For a comlpete and authentic version, please contact Dr. Shankar’s team at NIMHANS (contact details below).

• The brain is removed from the donor after death (complete death, as in eye donation, not brain-death as in kidney, heart and liver donation). This removal is done from the donor’s body within 24 hours of death (preferably closer to 4 hours), and the body must be kept in a freezer after death to be usable for such donation. All hospitals have mortuaries with freezers, where people sometimes keep the bodies of their relatives while they are waiting for children to arrive from other cities/ countries for last rites.
• Once the donor dies and the next-of-kin or authorized person contacts the brain bank (after the death is certified by the attending doctor), the brain bank takes the body to its premises. A pathologist makes an incision in the skull, removes the brain, and then stitches back the skin so that the body can be returned and viewed/ cremated/ buried as the relatives want. Apparent disfigurement is minimal, no more than a scar. The body is likely to be returned within 6 hours, give or take a bit thanks to traffic jams.
• There! That finishes the role of the donating family.
• The brain bank people use the brain to create slides that they make available to researchers. These slides can be used for up to five years. If you are interested, they will share the results with you.

Note that a donated brain can only be used for research. It cannot be transplanted (not as per the current state on science). What you get from this transaction is the satisfaction of having contributed a resource (a very valuable one) to science. No money is involved–you spend none, and you get none.

One more thing. Dr. Shankar informs us that major religions (Hinduism, Christianity-Catholic and Protestant, Islam, Buddhism) allow, and often support such donation. Some others, like Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t, but that’s more the exception than the rule.

If this interests you, contact Dr. Shankar or his team as given below. They are available 24 hours, and they are passionate about this. Remember, they need all types of brains, not just brains of those with problems. They need normal brains to compare with, so enroll yourself and relatives and anyone who is willing. There is an application and consent format and they will help you with it. Once you get your brain donor card, make sure you carry it along in your wallet, just as you already probably do for your eye donor card.

Personally, I am convinced about the need to donate my brain, and my mother’s. I have enrolled in the brain bank. My thoughts on why this is necessary are available in my blog entry here. I have also been trying to convince people about this, and one objection I keep hearing is a vague (not well-explored) reluctance that this will maim the body and hamper the after-life prospects of the deceased person. Usually, the reluctance is not a thought-through idea, just a vague discomfort, because few people like to think of death. I feel this cause is important enough for us to face our doubts and fears and see if they are valid. We accept eye donation in principle; why not brain? Read my thoughts about this in my blog entry here.

And do spread the word around. It’s a worthy cause.

The contact details are:

Contact persons:
Dr. Shankar: shankar@nimhans.kar.nic.in
Dr. Anita: amahadevan@nimhans.kar.nic.in

Address:
Human Brain Tissue Repository
Dept of Neuropathology
NIMHANS
Hosur Road
Bangalore, INDIA 560029

Phone: 91-80-26995130, 91-80-26563357