According to Science News, a study conducted on mice showed that newborn nerve cells may help heal the brain after a traumatic injury. Researchers from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center published in the Journal of Neuroscience a finding that could help treat brain injured patients with new nerve cells.

Doctors have known that adult brains can make new neurons in two parts of the brain, but the role of those cells has not been clear. Some scientists suggest that generating new nerve cells may be a way to build a new brain during development and has no affect on the adult brain at all. Others argue that new wiring hooks up new brain cells and sometimes can cause seizures due to wire tangling. The new study suggests that newborn neurons made in the hippocampus are beneficial, at least in aiding recovery after a traumatic brain injury. The hippocampus is of special interest, as it an important part of the brain responsible for learning and memory.

The Texas research team genetically labeled newborn cells in mice. Using another genetic technique, the researchers blocked neurogenesis at the time of injury to the brain’s cortex. Mice that could not make new brain cells did not recover the ability to learn a water maze after brain injury, while brain-injured mice generating new neurons were able to learn the new ability. The researchers found that new neurons help the hippocampus learn new tasks and memory after brain injury. New cells have no impact in making fear or motor memories, which do not require the hippocampus.