Why is this the case?

Question

our brain is the most important organ in the body, it is essentially (along with the heart and lungs) our soul. why then is it that when the brain gets injured it does not regenerate like other less important tissues on the body? if we break a leg we can still run a marathon, but if we hurt our brain we are done.

wouldn't it make more sense if the brain would regenerate?

Answer 1

its called specialisation...

in the begining, there was the sea, then blah blah blah...

basically, brain cells probably had the highest regeneration capability, that's why they evolved and specialised so quickly...then as they specialised even more, the lost a lot of functions, like regeneration...they even changed in shape and structure to optimize conduction...somewhere along the line, the centrioles vanished...

now, even your bone cells do not heal that fast or that completely...cause they're highly specialised...but tht dun apply to everything, i mean your skin is pretty specialised and it heals faster than anything ever

btw, it is only the gray matter that cannot regenerate, the white matter consiting of axons regenerates at a reasonably steady rate...

think of it this way...when you were a kid in skool, you studied math, science, languages, social studies, sports to some extent...but if you ask say a lawer or a doctor or engineer to start learning a new language say chinese[this of course does not apply to chinese ppl or ppl who know chinese], it'll be impossible...

the more you evolve, the more you lose out on abilities and nerve cells lost the ability to regenerate...

now let us see if they could regenerate...how would you like a brain the size of a melon...literally...

Answer 2

It is also the one most sensitive to change. You really wouldn't want your brain rewiring itself continuously and therefore a slow growth pattern is best. So while a brain cell may be replaced it's function unfortunately may not, so it is unlike a skin cell which while many skin cells are different they perform the same functions so any differences would not be noticed, except in the case of cancer,etc. Even if an identical brain cell is replaced it still would need to re-establish all it's interconnections to replace the lost function.

So if we had fast producing cells in our brain it would increase our chances of brain cancer and increase the chances of miswiring/misconnections - loss of abilities/memories, unfortunately this also means it is more sensitive to damage since it is not a fast grower.