As soon as we read a sentence, the neurons in our brain quickly fire electrical signals and communicate with each other. Scientists are still unsure about how this communication occurs. However, as a result of a study, it was revealed how the brain communicates with itself, and even a new treatment method may be found by changing this communication method.
A biochemistry team from Stanford and other universities has uncovered what kind of communication occurs between neurons thanks to chemical species produced from synapses. The study was led by Soham Chanda, an assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Colorado State University. The study, published in Nature Communications, has been tested both in the lab and in vivo, revealing that the identity of synapses between neurons can be changed by enzymatic means.
This method can also be used for the treatment of brain diseases.
In experiments in the lab, Chanda and her colleagues made a series of changes in synapses in neurons, revealing only a few genes. Using only enzymes, changes were made in the synapse, ie communication, between the exciters and inhibitors. This change in the brain’s communication with itself can be an important therapeutic tool for the treatment of brain diseases that occur due to problems in synaptic information processing and exchange.
Expressing that they know very little about how the human brain works, Chanda explained that they conducted this study to understand how neurons communicate with each other. “Understanding synapse formation and underlying functioning will also have enormous implications for understanding brain diseases,” Chanda said.
The results revealed that cell adhesion proteins, which are the providers of the communication of the brain with itself, are not the only providers that help the communication to take place. So, chemicals called neurotransmitters released from where information comes from also seem to play an important role in controlling which type of synapse forms where and how.
The CSU team, one of the other teams involved in the study, used stem cell-derived human neurons to see their abilities in the controlled release of certain neurotransmitters and the generation of certain types of synaptic connections. The team at the University of Buffalo used a similar method in living mouse brains.
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