Nerve cells communicate through synapses: small contact points where a signal travels from one
As researchers note, in the brains of almost everyoneAnimal species other than echinoderms have a second type of synapse: electrical. This synapse connects two nerve cells directly, so electrical signals can be transmitted from one cell to another without interference. The widespread occurrence of such compounds in nature, according to scientists, shows that electrical synapses must perform important functions.
"Electrical synapses are much rarer thanthey are difficult to detect by conventional methods. That is why so far they have been studied so little, says Georg Ammer, a neuroscientist and co-author of the study. “In most cases, we don’t even know basic things, like exactly where electrical synapses originate or how they affect brain activity.”
Neuroscientists have used immunohistochemicalanalysis of specific proteins that form gap junctions between electrical synapses. Based on the analysis, the scientists compiled a map. It turned out that in the brain of fruit flies, such synapses can be found in almost all parts of the brain, but not all neurons have electrical connections.
The researchers turned off the work of electricalsynapses in the area responsible for processing visual information. The results showed that the response of neurons to stimuli became significantly weaker, and some types of neurons without electrical synapses became unstable and began to oscillate spontaneously.
“The results show that electrical synapses are important for different brain functions and can perform very different tasks depending on the type of nerve cell,” says Ammer.
Researchers note that currentlyThe construction of connectomes (a complete description of the structural connections of the nervous system) uses only data from an electron microscope, which does not see electrical synapses. Neuroscientists believe this approach significantly limits our understanding of how the brain works.
According to the authors of the work, further research should show how all synapses can be integrated into a single circuit and what other secrets electrical synapses can hide.
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