We know regarding organ donations to save lives, but there are also brain donations to advance science. In Quebec, the brain bank contains more than 600 specimens that have not yet revealed all their secrets. The newspaper offers you a rare foray into this well-guarded place.

“A human brain contains regarding one hundred billion neurons, the same number of stars as in our galaxy”, launches the D^r Martin Parent, Full Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences of the Faculty of Medicine at Université Laval.

The D^r Parent is also the custodian of this very special bank, which belongs to the CERVO Research Center of the Institut universitaire en santéALE de Québec (IUSMQ). As director, he is responsible for protecting confidential donor information, because behind every brain lies a whole life. This charge was transmitted to him by his father, Dr.^r André Parent, a world authority in neuroanatomy. The D^r André Parent is also the founder of the bank.

Until it was created in 1996, researchers in Quebec had little access to human brains.

In research, the study of animal tissues is useful, but it also has its limits, explained the Dr.^r Parent.

Thus, the bank receives brains that allow the study of neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease, but it also receives normal brains that allow researchers to make comparisons.

“We receive a dozen brains a year,” says the D^r Parent during a visit to the places where cold rooms and laboratories are set up.

Specimens

The sample is taken at the Hôpital de l’Enfant-Jésus by a pathologist within a period that must not exceed 24 hours following the death.

The brain is then taken to the laboratories of the CERVO Research Center on Avenue D’Estimauville to be processed, according to a very specific protocol.

“We are going to dissect it and cut it into blocks. Chemical solutions are used to preserve it for several years. We have brains that date from the very beginning of the bank, ”explains the D^r Parent.

Depending on the method used, the brain parts are either kept in a solution at 4 degrees Celsius or frozen at -80 degrees Celsius.

Researchers from Quebec, but also from around the world, then use these samples to advance their research. In the case of international researchers, the samples are sent by specialized courier, following the signature of protocols approved by ethics committees.

“Each neuron is connected in a rather specific way with other neurons thanks to circuitry that we do not yet fully understand. The question is whether the human brain will be able to understand the human brain. We still don’t understand everything even regarding normal operation, so imagine when it all goes wrong. There are a lot of things we don’t understand even if we are making progress,” said Dr.^r Parent.

To make a brain donation, you must complete a consent form since brain donation is not covered by the form on the back of the health insurance card.