CHICAGO: Tel Aviv University researchers have conducted groundbreaking research into the human brain finding that its neural networks preserve memories better than individual neurons. This new understanding could lead to breakthrough in treating debilitating diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
A new study by Dr. Inna Slutsky of Tel Aviv University‘s Sackler Faculty of Medicine and TAU’s Sagol School of Neuroscience finds that homeostatic regulation occurs mainly in groups of neurons rather than in the individual neurons themselves.
Contradicting established assumptions, Edden Slomowitz and Boaz Styr, doctoral students in Dr. Slutsky’s laboratory, discovered that single brain cells, on an individual basis, were unable to autonomously stabilize “spikes” in neuron communication over long periods. “Spikes” or “firing,” as they are also known, are neurons’ response to stimulation; they relay messages to the rest of the body…