Stephen J Smith Stephen J Smith Stephen J Smith is a Senior Investigator at the Allen Institute for Brain Science. Previously, Dr. Smith was Professor of Molecular and Cellular Physiology at the Stanford University School of Medicine. In 1990, Smith published an article in the journal "Science", which proposed that certain glial cells in the human brain known as astrocytes would be able to communicate through chemical signals, rather than electrical. By utilizing the neurotransmitter glutamate, he was able to show that these cells, which had once been perceived as inert tissue between neurons, in fact were actively communicating with the rest of
Brain tumor send the wrong chemical signals which prevent phagocytes from disposing of the dead cells, leading to a buildup of dead tissue, cell debris and toxins at or near the site of the necrotic cells Arterial and venous hypoxia, or the deprivation of adequate oxygen supply to certain areas of the brain, occurs when a tumor makes use of nearby blood vessels for its supply of blood and the neoplasm enters into competition for nutrients with the surrounding brain tissue. More generally a neoplasm may cause release of metabolic end products (e.g., free radicals, altered electrolytes, neurotransmitters), and release and recruitment