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In fact, the percentage of water in nerve cells is not necessarily 78, usually indicate something in the range of 70-80%. Water is a part of the intracellular fluid, and not only in the brain, but throughout the body. Internal parts of the cell (organelles) as if floating in an aqueous solution. Neurons also need water to produce hormones and neurotransmitters-special substances necessary for transmitting a nerve impulse from one brain cell to another.
In addition to the water contained in the cells, inside the brain there are real lakes of CSF-cerebrospinal fluid, which is also an aqueous solution. This fluid protects the brain from mechanical influences, being a kind of shock absorber, and supports the exchange processes between the blood and the brain.
In order to understand why there is so much water in the brain, in principle, it is enough to Google “the role of water in a living organism”. Supporting the previous speaker, I will say that the brain really contains a lot of lipid structures. But for the proper functioning of these hydrophobic structures, an aquatic environment is necessary. Also, most synapses are chemical or mixed, and water is necessary for the transport of neurotransmitters.
I don't agree that the brain is made up of water, because most of it is made up of fat – these are fat cells. The brain does not need so much water, and even more so, if too much water accumulates in it, then a serious condition occurs, which is called brain edema. The brain doesn't need the amount of water you're talking about.
Let's look at the simplest example. For example, with alcohol intoxication, brain edema occurs, because being saturated with alcohol molecules, the brain pulls water there – each alcohol molecule chemically attracts five water molecules, due to which edema develops, forming the notorious state of intoxication.
The second thing that often happens after taking alcohol is mechanical head injuries, which also lead to brain edema, no matter what mechanism this injury is.
The third situation in which the amount of fluid in the brain will be increased is infection. Such as, for example, the flu. Viral infections can lead to impaired blood flow and swelling of the brain.
Edema can be fatal, but for this to happen, the edema must be quite intense. And not only in terms of volume, but also in terms of the rate of increase, because the body is a self – regulating biological system that copes with various problems on its own. But if everything happens quickly, then it can also lead to death – neuroinfection, impaired blood flow, rupture of blood vessels that fill with blood. Blood, on the other hand, is a liquid that contains almost 80% water. And this is already fatal consequences for the brain.
It seemed to me that about 70% is generally the average figure for the water content in the body as a whole. It is not entirely clear what the author of the question means: does he understand that the percentage of water content in most other organs is close to these figures?�
If we turn to the question of the origin of biological systems and apply elementary logic, the question easily ceases to be a question: molecules that became components of living systems as a result of chemical evolution appeared in a liquid medium, some lipid molecules that are amphiphilic in nature and can exist in water only in the form of micelles formed something like membranes for protocells, and the “primary broth” enclosed in them, Further, in the course of chemical evolution, the composition of the contents of these micelles gradually became more complex, but water remained the main component. Billions of years later, when the first cellular organisms appeared – and they emerged from colonial unicellular organisms-the water that washed these colonial progenitor organisms, when they (the colonial) “closed” into a multicellular organism, became the basis for the internal environment of organisms – what in the course of evolution became blood, lymph, CSF, and tissue fluid.�
In general, there is a lot of water in the brain (and most other organs), because it forms the basis of both the cytoplasm of cells and the internal environment that washes cells, and initially there is so much of it in cells and the internal environment of the body, because see above.
In the brain and in general in the central nervous system, there is a high content of water in the tissues. I don't know how much%, but more than in other fabrics. Proof – the central nervous system is undergoing colliquation necrosis.�
Why a lot of water? The brain is washed by cerebrospinal fluid, which is necessary because some vessels cannot cope with the energy and plastic needs of all neurons.