Mental illnesses affect 25% of the population and in some cases, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or depression, they can represent one of the main causes of disability worldwide. Researchers from the IMIM Neuroscience Research Programme have created the first proneural cells bank in Spain with the aim of facilitating research in mental illnesses. This resource is available to the scientific community and offers the possibility of obtaining biochemical and molecular information on what happens in the brain through the only accessible proneural cells – also called immature neurons) – which are located in the olfactory neuro-epithelium, found in the upper part of the nasal cavity.

The cells of the olfactory neuroepithelium have the characteristic of being proneuronal, in other words, they will be converted into sensory neurons and be responsible for taking information from the olfactory system to the brain. They are located very close to the brain and permit surrogate access to the brain’s molecular and biochemical information.

One of the successes of this project is the development of a non-invasive technique for the extraction of proneural cells by this research team. The new technique developed at the IMIM extracts the cells with the aid of a small cell scraper designed for this purpose and does not require surgical measures, enabling these cells to be extracted periodically if prognostic monitoring is necessary.