The other three main cell types surround the nerve cells. They appear in thousands of variations, which, among other things, protect the nerve cells against toxins and microbes, provide them with oxygen and nutrients and speed up the nerve signals.
However, the cells are more than just helpers of the nerve cells. In some cases, they actively control the activity of nerve cells. A new type of so-called astrocytes was found in 2023, for example, hiding the marker material glutamatewhich can stimulate electrical signals in the nerve cells. The new cell type was found to be involved in learning and to remind and protects against, among other things, Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy.
When researchers at The Brain Initiative try to map the brain, they not only need to have an overview of the hundreds of billions of cells in the brain, but also to determine which function of the different cells. Therefore, the researchers of the project have developed a completely new method.
Scientists color cells
A cell’s properties and behavior are controlled by its genes. So the strategy for the Brain Initiative is to initially study the genes that are active in the nerve cells.
The researchers use a method in which the RNA of individual cells can be sequenced, which has been refined over the course of the project. RNA can be described as a natural copy of the DNA of each active gene, so by sequencing all the RNA in a cell, researchers can see which genes the cell uses.
2024-09-22 00:40:56
#Breakthrough #Mapping #Unknown #Land #Brain #Millions
