Studies reveal underlying mechanism for chemotherapy's adverse effects on brain.

摘要

While the study by Noble and colleagues helps support the theory that chemobrain is real, it has yet to be proven what actual effects such myelin injury has on cognition. However, the researchers did demonstrate that treatment with fluo-rouracil had delayed effects on the speed with which information is transferred from the ear to the brain.Meyers noted that the findings suggest that chemobrain warrants further investigation. "A lot of physicians just blewit off as being impossible because they thought the drugs didn't cross the blood-brainbarrier," she said. The results of this and other studies of the phenomenon may help "guide the development of transla-tional clinical research to protect the nervous system from injury, to better treat injury that has developed as a result of treatment, and to improve the overall quality of life of cancer patients," she wrote in an accompanying mini-review (Meyers CAJBiol. 2008;7:ll).