Mechanisms behind ‘Mexican waves’ in the brain are revealed by scientists

Posted: Published on November 18th, 2014

This post was added by Dr P. Richardson

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

18-Nov-2014

Contact: Sam Wong sam.wong@imperial.ac.uk 44-207-594-2198 Imperial College London @imperialspark

Scientists have revealed the mechanisms that enable certain brain cells to persuade others to create 'Mexican waves' linked with cognitive function.

Ultimately, the team say their work may help researchers understand more about normal brain function and about neurocognitive disorders such as dementia.

Neurons are cells in the brain that communicate chemical and electrical information and they belong to one of two groups- inhibitory or excitatory. While much is known about excitatory neurons, the role of inhibitory neurons is still being debated.

Inhibitory neurons can vibrate and they are equipped with mechanisms that enable them to persuade networks of other neurons into imitating their vibrations - setting off 'Mexican waves' in the brain. The scientists believe these collective, oscillating vibrations play a key role in cognitive function. Their research sheds light on how inhibitory neurons use different communication processes to excitatory neurons, which share information via an internal pulsing mechanism.

This study was carried out by Imperial College London and the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research. It is published today in the journal Nature Communications.

Dr Claudia Clopath, co-author from the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial College London, said: "These brain cells are similar to spectators in a football stadium, encouraging others into imitating them in a Mexican wave. We suspect that there is a very close relationship between the collective vibrations that they set off and many important cognitive functions. When the vibrations are degraded so that the wave is disrupted, we think it may contribute to neurocognitive disorders such as dementia. Our hope is that ultimately our research will lead to new insights into these disorders and how they can be treated."

The researchers developed a mathematical model showing the two mechanisms that inhibitory neurons need in order to convince others to join them in their rhythmical vibrations. The first is the mechanism that enables the inhibitory neurons to vibrate on their own, known as sub threshold resonance.

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Mechanisms behind 'Mexican waves' in the brain are revealed by scientists

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