Neurologists Have Just Discovered a Never Before Seen Signal Type in the Human Brain

Amaze Lab

Despite being human, there is still a lot about our own bodies we don’t understand, especially when it comes to our brains. And now neurologists have detected a new type of signal occurring between cells and they say it’s the first of its kind.

Transcript

00:00 (upbeat music)

00:02 Despite being humans,

00:05 there is still a lot about our own bodies

00:07 we don't understand,

00:08 especially when it comes to our brains.

00:09 And now neurologists have detected

00:11 a new type of signal occurring between cells,

00:13 and they say it's the first of its kind.

00:16 The signals were first noticed a couple of years ago,

00:18 but more recently,

00:19 doctors were able to examine brain tissue

00:21 removed during surgeries,

00:22 finding that there is a cluster of cells

00:24 in the brain's outer cortex

00:25 that uses calcium to fire neurons,

00:27 not just the standard sodium ions.

00:30 They're now calling these messages

00:31 calcium-mediated dendritic action potentials.

00:34 Action potentials refer to the depolarization

00:36 that occurs in a neuron,

00:38 signaling from one end to the next,

00:39 and eventually through a synapse

00:41 onto adjacent nerve cells.

00:42 This all happens chemically

00:44 at the end of each branching dendrite,

00:45 and the researchers say this is a key point

00:47 in unlocking our understanding

00:49 of the brain's computational power.

00:51 That's because dendrites

00:52 are the gatekeepers of the nervous system,

00:54 detecting whether or not an action potential

00:56 is worth reporting to other parts of the body,

00:58 with the researchers saying that the outer cortex

01:00 is particularly packed with neurons and dendrite branches,

01:04 and is responsible for high-level functions, even thought.

01:07 Meaning, understanding these new signals

01:09 could help us better understand the processes

01:11 of the human brain.

01:13 (upbeat music)

01:15 (upbeat music)

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