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Boffins Find Evidence for Novel Brain Cell Communication
The findings, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, may have significance for the prevention and treatment of epilepsy, and perhaps in the exploration of other aspects of brain functions, from creative thought processes to mental illnesses such as schizophrenia.
The study was performed jointly by scientists at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York; Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado; Mount Sinai School of Medicine in Manhattan, New York; and the University of Newcastle in the United Kingdom.
Epilepsy, a group of disorders characterized by the recurrent occurrence of spontaneous seizures, is usually regarded to reflect a disparity between the ability of nerve cells to excite one another, on the one hand, and to inhibit one another, on the other hand.
The excitation and inhibition take place because the activity of nerve cells leads to the release of particular chemicals, called neurotransmitters, which act as a “classic” means of communication between nerve cells, and lies at the base of most of current understanding of how the brain processes information and controls muscles in the body.
There is, however, another means for nerve cells to communicate with one another, called gap junctions. Gap junctions allow electric current to flow directly from one cell to another, without involving the release and diffusion of transmitter chemicals, and may be thought of as “short circuits” linking or cutting across the pathways through which cells normally communicate.
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