Nature: Research reveals the diversity of nerve cells in the brain

4, 2020 /--- scientists have long been thinking about what type of cells the brain is.
Now, a study led by Dr. Andreas Tolias of Baylor College of Medicine, Dr. Philipp Berens of the University of Tybingen in Germany and Dr. Rickard Sandberg of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, has revealed the most detailed and complete characteristics of the diversity of neural types in the brain to date.
results have been published in the journal Nature.
(Photo Source: Www.pixabay.com) Neuroscientistes mostly use three basic characteristics to describe neurons: their anatomical structure or their appearance under a microscope; their physiological condition, or how they react after being stimulated; and their transcriptional histological characteristics.
the study, the team used an experimentally challenging technique developed a few years ago called Patch-seq.
this technique allows them to collect large multimodal databases, including genetic, anatomical and physiological information, from individual cells in the mouse motor cortical cortical layer.
" collection of all three basic characteristics from the same set of neurons is key to enabling us to gain a deeper understanding of how neurons in the motor cortical are interrelated and to have a clearer understanding of the cell type tree.
" lead author, Dr. Federico Scala, a postdoctoral researcher at Baylor Tolias Labs.
Dmitry Kobak is also the first author of Berens Labs.
neurons have unique anatomical and physiological characteristics, they exhibit a wide range of anatomical and physiological diversity in each family.
important, all three basic neuron traits are related to each other, allowing the team to find interesting connections between them.
s data support the idea that a cort cell-type tree looks more like a banana tree with no big leaves than an olive tree with many small leaves, " he said.
this view provides a simpler model for describing the diversity of neurons we find in neurons.
believe that this simple view will lead to a more principled understanding of why we have so many cell types and uses in the brain."
this metaphor, neurons follow a hierarchy of different, non-overlapping branches that are the big leaves of banana trees at the family level.
in each family, the genetic, anatomical, and physiological characteristics of neurons are constantly changing, and all three characteristics of the family are interrelated.
(Bioon.com) Source: The tree of cortical cell type describes the diversity of neurons in the brain Original source: Federico Scala et al, Phenotypic variation of transcriptomic cell cell type in mouse motor cortex, Nature (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2907-3。