To enable sharing of brain tissue and fluids preserved at the Human Brain Tissue Repository (HBTR) or the Brain Bank at NIMHANS with leading international medical research centres, the government of India and Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) need to liberalize the Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) norms to include brain samples.
"Leading international medical research centres like MRC, UK and NIH, USA, and many other individual scientists are keen to source fresh brain tissues, blood samples and body fluids to understand the ethnic variations in the prevalence of neuro-degenerative diseases in India and their genetic basis. But till the Union government streamlines the rules with a rider that scientists should be accountable for the material transfer, maintain confidentiality and safeguard the intellectual property rights (IPRs), we will not be able to share any samples," stated Dr SK Shankar, professor and head, Department of Neuropathology, NIMHANS and project co-ordinator, HBTR.
There is also a need to have more brain banks to store brain tissue, body fluids and tumour tissue banks to make the best of its research efforts. ICMR has severely restricted the sharing of either fresh or preserved tissues and the paper work involved is time consuming daunting.
Dr Shankar as project co-ordinator of HBTR is a member of the Society for Biological & Environmental Repositories, USA, which has released a booklet on the Storage of Human, Animal and Plant Material, which calls to commence the sharing of biological samples for research.
India's inherent ethnic diversity and genetic diversity offer opportunity to study the cause, prevalence, progression and clinical manifestation of various neuro degenerative disorders and infections and compare with the West. By optimally coordinating and collecting material, Indian scientists can study the genetic basis of the diseases and disorders in the paediatric and adult patient population. "Although there is high level of expertise in neurosciences, there has been limited interaction between clinicians and basic researchers resulting in slow progress of neuroscience. It is only through constant interaction and sample sharing will be able to translate promising findings towards drug development," said Dr Shankar.
Among the numerous studies which have emerged from the analysis of preserved brain tissues that have helped to determine pathogenesis and evolve treatment modalities, are decrease in dopamine levels in Parkinson's Disease, detection in fall of choline acetyl transferase in Alzheimer's, identification of etiological agents in measles virus, discovery of AIDS encephalopathy as a distinct entity in the paediatric age group. The DNA samples extracted from the frozen brain tissue has kindled interest among neuro-biologists opening up new avenues for research. "This has the potential in constructing cDNA libraries. These new technological advances have made it possible to go down to the molecular level to analyze the cell nucleus with precision and rapidity. With the help of the brain derived cells, molecular probes are being developed to help in diagnosis.
Barring Human Brain Tissue Repository (Brain Bank) at NIMHANS, Bangalore, there are no other similar brain, tissue banking facilities. The infrastructure facility at the existing tissue banks needs to be strengthened. There is a need to increase the public awareness about cadaveric organ donation, especially the brains from road traffic accident victims as normal controls and those who succumb to neurodegenerative diseases for diseased conditions. There is also an acute shortage of trained experts to pursue brain research and drug development, added Dr Shankar. With the encouragement of Government of India and recent progressive thinking, this situation may change and neuroscience research may progress speedily.