Identifying New Brain Action

Cells inside the thalamus region of the brain, which is a relay station of sensory and motor abilities can gather more data than imagined, according to new research published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Brain is responsible for coordinating and interpreting many of our actions we do every day, from walking and running to seeing and hearing. To coordinate these actions in the brain, thalamus is required as a relay station between these signals.

Researchers from the University of Chicago and the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory conducted a study to understand these processes taking place in thalamus.

Though thalamus helps in relaying sensory and motor signals and regulate consciousness and alertness, this new research reveals more in detail about how thalamus receives different types of information and relays it to all parts of the cortex present in brain.

The team relied on tools from a variety of scientific fields, including genetics, virology, molecular biology and microbiology, as well as various imaging techniques to know about the process.

Using electron microscopy, they collected thousands of images from mouse brains. Images were digitally reassembled, or stitched together, onto local desktops, and then aligned for 3D reconstruction.

Through the image reconstructions, they found that individual neurons can merge signals coming from different regions of the cortex.

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This new understanding of processing and signaling capabilities of neurons in the thalamus can help to find new treatments for schizophrenia, some forms of epilepsy and other brain disorders.

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Source-Medindia