Early-life interaction between neuromodulatory and cortical brain cells (IMAGE)
Caption
Researchers studying the postnatal brain found that the neurotransmitter acetylcholine released from cholinergic system cells initiates the branching, or arborization, of axons on chandelier cells in the cortex – and that arborization dictates how effective chandelier cells are at doing their job of using inhibitory effects to counter excitation in other cells. The study is the first to show that these two types of cells, both implicated in such disorders as schizophrenia, epilepsy and autism, communicate very early in brain development.
Credit
Hiroki Taniguchi and André Steinecke
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No restrictions.
License
Public Domain