In the filmed-in-Pittsburgh movie “Concussion,” Will Smith’s character — pathologist Bennet Omalu -— tells another doctor that the uniquely shaped tongue system of a woodpecker protects its brain from injury when it repeatedly drives its beak into trees.
"It is the anatomical equivalent of a safety belt for its brain," he says, while describing how chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, destroyed the brains, and lives, of former star athletes from the Pittsburgh Steelers.
But a study from Boston University School of Medicine, published Feb. 2 in the science journal PLOS One, offers a surprising if counterintuitive suggestion for the way nature protects woodpeckers’ brains.
In addition to the specially adapted tongue, an enlarged brain case provides extra space, and a specialized beak and skull redirect concussive shock away from the head, cushioning the birds’ small brains. Yet the study’s co-authors — neurologists, including a concerned football dad — found sponge-like holes throughout the brain samples of woodpeckers of various species and ages. A similar Swiss cheese effect littered the brains of deceased Steelers Mike Webster, Justin Strzelczyk and other CTE victims.
Clustered near the holes researchers found unusual deposits of an abnormal form of tau, a protein linked in humans to dementia-causing neurodegenerative illnesses such as CTE and Alzheimer’s. Those clumps of protein were believed to be physical consequences of chronic concussion to the brain. But like scar tissue protecting a wound, those clumps may have actually protected the woodpeckers’ brains, providing additional cushioning from repeated concussive blows. The study added that more research is needed.
Jim Bonner, executive director of the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania, agreed that more work needs to be done.
“Perhaps further research could lead to a way to do the same in human brains,” said Mr. Bonner, who did not participate in the study.
With slight differences, 200 species of woodpeckers worldwide slam their beaks onto trees with machine-gun rapidity to find food, carve out nesting cavities or attract mates. On average, each individual peck generates 14 times the G-forces that would trigger a concussion in humans.
“Although the repeated drumming seems to lead to an accumulation of the tau protein in woodpecker brains, which in humans has been linked to CTE, it does not seem to cause any problems for the birds,” said Mr. Bonner. “It might even benefit them, or perhaps they may have a mechanism that allows their brain to clear or counteract the protein. … This study reminds us why it is important to keep studying birds and all the things we can learn from them.”
John Hayes: 412-263-1991, jhayes@post-gazette.com.
First Published: February 23, 2018, 4:03 p.m.
