From basic brain research to treating human brain disorders

Abstract

The human brain is the most complex entity we know. Disorders of the human brain are embedded in this complexity. Potential advances in treating these disorders result from the growing understanding of this complex organization. The brains of monkeys have some important similarities to the human brain in structure and organization, and monkeys have therefore been extensively studied to help us to understand human brain disorders. With this in mind, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) convened a colloquium, “Using Monkey Models to Understand and Develop Treatments for Human Brain Disorders,” in Irvine, California on January 7th and 8th, 2019. The colloquium articles in this issue of PNAS offer a glimpse into the relationship of scientific discovery to the treatment of brain disorders. We begin by considering how this kind of scientific discovery works. The better we know how a machine works, the more likely we are able to fix it when it breaks. When our automobile needs repair, we take it to someone we think understands how it works and therefore is likely to be able to fix it. We do the same thing when we have a brain disorder; we go to the doctor we think understands the brain system underlying the specific disorder and hope that she can provide a treatment. It is the understanding of the brain system that comes first; without that understanding the treatment is likely to be a hit or miss guess or an expensive failure. The understanding is not all or none, it is continually developing, often over many years. Anyone who has close experience with a brain disease knows that current medicine is mostly groping in the dark with these disorders. It is the job of basic science to turn on some lights. Consider an example of the contribution to clinical … [↵][1]1To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: bob{at}lsr.nei.nih.gov. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1