Neuroscientists Say They've Found an Entirely New Form of Neural Communication

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sciborg2

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« on: April 22, 2019, 05:32:14 pm »
Neuroscientists Say They've Found an Entirely New Form of Neural Communication

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Scientists think they've identified a previously unknown form of neural communication that self-propagates across brain tissue, and can leap wirelessly from neurons in one section of brain tissue to another – even if they've been surgically severed.

The discovery offers some radical new insights about the way neurons might be talking to one another, via a mysterious process unrelated to conventionally understood mechanisms, such as synaptic transmission, axonal transport, and gap junction connections.

"We don't know yet the 'So what?' part of this discovery entirely," says neural and biomedical engineer Dominique Durand from Case Western Reserve University.

"But we do know that this seems to be an entirely new form of communication in the brain, so we are very excited about this."

Before this, scientists already knew there was more to neural communication than the above-mentioned connections that have been studied in detail, such as synaptic transmission.

For example, researchers have been aware for decades that the brain exhibits slow waves of neural oscillations whose purpose we don't understand, but which appear in the cortex and hippocampus when we sleep, and so are hypothesised to play a part in memory consolidation.

"The functional relevance of this input‐ and output‐decoupled slow network rhythm remains a mystery," explains neuroscientist Clayton Dickinson from the University of Alberta, who wasn't involved in the new research but has discussed it in a perspective article.

"But [it's] one that will probably be solved by an elucidation of both the cellular and the inter‐cellular mechanisms giving rise to it in the first place."

To that end, Durand and his team investigated slow periodic activity in vitro, studying the brain waves in hippocampal slices extracted from decapitated mice.

What they found was that slow periodic activity can generate electric fields which in turn activate neighbouring cells, constituting a form of neural communication without chemical synaptic transmission or gap junctions.

"We've known about these waves for a long time, but no one knows their exact function and no one believed they could spontaneously propagate," Durand says.

"I've been studying the hippocampus, itself just one small part of the brain, for 40 years and it keeps surprising me."

This neural activity can actually be modulated - strengthened or blocked - by applying weak electrical fields and could be an analogue form of another cell communication method, called ephaptic coupling.

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The team's most radical finding was that these electrical fields can activate neurons through a complete gap in severed brain tissue, when the two pieces remain in close physical proximity.

"To ensure that the slice was completely cut, the two pieces of tissue were separated and then rejoined while a clear gap was observed under the surgical microscope," the authors explain in their paper.

"The slow hippocampal periodic activity could indeed generate an event on the other side of a complete cut through the whole slice."

If you think that sounds freaky, you're not the only one. The review committee at The Journal of Physiology – in which the research has been published – insisted the experiments be completed again before agreeing to print the study.
« Last Edit: April 22, 2019, 05:34:36 pm by sciborg2 »

TLEILAXU

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« Reply #1 on: April 24, 2019, 09:12:26 pm »
I can barely understand any of that shit, but will be cool to follow.
« Last Edit: April 24, 2019, 09:22:30 pm by TLEILAXU »

sciborg2

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« Reply #2 on: April 25, 2019, 03:18:36 pm »
 Might be of interest for those who find this as cool as i do:

Non-chemical and non-contact cell-to-cell communication: a short review

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Cell-to-cell communication is the basis of coordinated cellular activity and thus fundamental for the functioning of biological systems. In a recently published research article by Chaban et al. (Am. J. Transl. Res., 5(1), 69-79), the authors report on interesting new experimental findings supporting a neuro-hormonal independent, non-diffusible cell-to-cell signaling. Our paper aims to (i) discuss some critical notions used by the authors to describe their findings, and (ii) briefly review related experimental work performed so far but not discussed in the original work of Chaban et al. In our opinion, the research on principles of non-chemical and non-contact cell-to-cell communication has the potential to offer new fundamental insights into biological processes. With this paper, we want to encourage future research on this topic by discussing critical issues and giving an overview of the current state of research.

Francis Buck

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« Reply #3 on: May 06, 2019, 10:08:56 pm »
This feels like a pretty big deal TBH. I mean I'm not even remotely qualified to have an opinion beyond that, but like, this seems like kind of a big deal right? 

Awesome stuff as always Sci.

sciborg2

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« Reply #4 on: May 07, 2019, 01:40:02 pm »
This feels like a pretty big deal TBH. I mean I'm not even remotely qualified to have an opinion beyond that, but like, this seems like kind of a big deal right? 

Awesome stuff as always Sci.

Yeah there is more and more research into the idea that field effects play a role in our minds, along with the possibility of some quantum level biological processes.

McFadden and Al-Khalili proposed how both might work in tandem in Life on the Edge, very speculative - which the readily admitted - as any "quantum mind" theory would have to be at this point. But I do think this stuff is going to have big pay-offs...

« Last Edit: May 07, 2019, 01:51:05 pm by sciborg2 »