National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences' (NIMHANS) which houses India's first and only National Brain Bank Centre (NBBC) has conducted extensive research to identify enzymes present in the brain giving a direction to pharmacological drug development and drug modulation.

Extensive biochemical, molecular biology, neuro genetics and pathomorphologic studies using brain tissue are ongoing in collaboration with Indian Institute of Science, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore, National Institute of Virology, Pune and National Brain Research Centre, New Delhi.

"We have found that decreased levels of serotonin receptor levels in the brain manifests into psychiatric illness like depression which can be corrected with anti depressant drugs. Ample findings on a wide ranging applications are now available to evolve newer therapeutic regimes which should now be accessed by pharma majors and research centres for drug development," Dr SK Shankar, professor and head department of Neuropathology, NIMHANS and head, National Brain Bank Centre, told Pharmabiz.

Studies on use of stem cells migrating to the area of brain injury to enhance the survival of patients are also at an advanced stage. Clinicians and medical scientists need to coordinate and closely interact to make the best of the brain tissues potential to save lives and treat diseases, he added.

India needs to develop drugs keeping in view the environmental toxins, endemic infections and ethnic variability. Certain viral infections common in India are not frequently manifested in the West and vice-versa. These include Type HIV-1C, Japanese Encephalitis (JE), rabies, Herpes Encephalitis and Measles Encephalitis which are all typical to India. NBBC researchers have pressed the need to develop vaccines for all these diseases using an Indian strain for prevention.

The bank is the human brain repository of tissue and fluids which are collected after an autopsy seeking human consent. One half of the brain from the neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorder cases are frozen at -70 deg. C, while the other half is formalin fixed which can be used for pathomorphological studies. The neural tissues and fluids tested and found negative for HIV and HbsAg are provided for research in neurosciences. Pathogenesis of the disease, genetic basis, prognostic and diagnostic markers for neuralgic disease have also been understood.

The role of environmental toxins in the pathogenesis of the neurogenerative disorders has proved the 'xenobiotic' metabolizing capacity of the brain, contrary to the earlier understanding that it only took place in the liver. For the first time, NBBC has found that major drug metabolizing enzymes like Cytochrome P450 and flavin systems are known to efficiently metabolize a variety of psychoactive drugs including epilepsy and alcoholism. Further drug resistance factors in neuro-infections of viral, bacterial, parasitic have been also assessed.

"This is where the international agencies like MRC and NIH are keen to access brain tissue and fluids from NBBC. India is on par with the West for brain research expertise. In association with global partners we could speed up drug development and stem cell applications with the available research findings," said Dr Shankar.

NBBC which was set up 14 years ago with a DBT, DST and ICMT funding of Rs 40 lakh is now supported with a Rs 25 lakh assistance by NIMHANS with its planned budget resources.