Research breakthrough achieved in brain fiber

  Staff writer, with CNA   Tseng Wen-yih, a professor at National Taiwan University's College of Medicine, delivers a talk in Taipei yesterday. Tseng and a group of scientists from around the world, including from Harvard University, have been working together for years to uncover nerve fiber trajectories.  Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times    A breakthrough in the mapping of nerve fibers in monkeys might lead to early diagnosis and improved treatment for neurological diseases in humans, according to research by a group of academics that was published yesterday.  "The structure of nerve fibers, we have found, follows a checker-board pattern," Tseng Wen-yih (曾文毅), a biomedical expert from National Taiwan University's College of Medicine, said at a press conference held to announce the publication of the findings in the journal Science yesterday.  Tseng and a group of scientists from around the world, including from Harvard University in the US, have been working together for years to uncover fiber trajectories and their latest findings have been published in the prestigious peer-reviewed journal.  Neurological disorders such as schizophrenia, hyperactivity, autism, dementia and epilepsy can be triggered when a deviation occurs in the brain's "wiring system," he said.  Unlike the common portrayal of brain nerve fibers as branches of a tree that spread in every direction, Tseng said his team found that fiber bundles constitute an orderly three-dimensional grid that more closely resembles intricately woven cloth.  "The findings took us by surprise," Tseng told reporters. "We have uncovered a clear blueprint of brain fibers."  The study was based on the brains of monkeys from six different species, but current magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology needs to improve before the -fiber pathways of living humans can be fully sketched out, Tseng said.  Nevertheless, the discovery could yield many applications, including the understanding and prevention of neurological disorders in humans.   Taking autism as an example, Tseng said that sufferers' fiber bundles in the areas of the brain that control cognition and language appeared abnormal.  If a more sophisticated MRI machine could be developed, doctors would be able to diagnose patients more quickly and precisely, he said.  The blueprint could also serve as a guideline for assessing the efficacy of a drug on patients, he added.  Tseng said he was in negotiations with local hospitals to take his findings to the next research stage — clinical trials.  Describing the discovery as "revolutionary," Yang Pan-chyr (楊泮池), dean of National Taiwan University's College of Medicine, said scientists could build on the findings to further explain how the brain works.