What about transplanting astrocytes? Probably weak, but it seems to have been used to treat brain damage, and fwiw supposedly “Einstein had statistically significantly more glial cells in the association cortex”. Humans in general have a higher proportion of astrocytes to neurons than other animals.
Maybe targeted astrocyte (progenitor) transplants could imitate the effect of intense activity in that region, giving it metabolic and computational support?
In pretty full generality I’m sorta skeptical of adult interventions. So much important stuff happens in development, and the ability for that important stuff to happen is surely lost to a large degree (who knows how much). But yeah this seems sorta interesting, though prima facie I’d be worried about cancer and also worried about ruining existing stuff. @kman
What about transplanting astrocytes? Probably weak, but it seems to have been used to treat brain damage, and fwiw supposedly “Einstein had statistically significantly more glial cells in the association cortex”. Humans in general have a higher proportion of astrocytes to neurons than other animals.
Maybe targeted astrocyte (progenitor) transplants could imitate the effect of intense activity in that region, giving it metabolic and computational support?
In pretty full generality I’m sorta skeptical of adult interventions. So much important stuff happens in development, and the ability for that important stuff to happen is surely lost to a large degree (who knows how much). But yeah this seems sorta interesting, though prima facie I’d be worried about cancer and also worried about ruining existing stuff. @kman