영양과 세포의 성장발달 - 뇌세포를 중심으로

Nutrition and cellular development of brain

  The brain, like all other tissues, needs nutrients to consruct and maintain neurons, nerve cells. A deficit in essential nutrients can affect the initial development and subsequent maintenance of a tissue as structurally complex as the brain.   Neurons have the ability to conduct bioelectrical impulses over long distances without any loss of signal strength. These have special properties that allow them to function as components within a rapid communication network. It appears that the initial formation of neurons is susceptible to undernutrition if the period of experimentally imposed undernutrition coincides with their period of neuronogenesis. Since almost all neurons develop very early in embryogenesis and can not be reproduced, prenatal and postnatal nutrition are very important. The fetus is relatively more protected from nutrition insult than the neonate, and the effect on it of prenatal malnutrition are generally less severe than those seen postnatally. During lactation glial cells and microneurons continue to multiply, myelin is laid down, nerve terminals and dendritic processes ramify, and synaptic connections are established. The latter two processes extend into the postweaning period, and thus malnutrition during and after weaning can still influence the continued development of the brain.   The question of how nutrients and calorie deficiency exert their actions on brain development remains unanswered. Further studies can therefore be expected to probe such question and to correlate the various developmental changes in cell structure and function which parallel the biochemical evidence of brain growth and maturation, and their sensitivity to malnutrition.