Scientists create entirely new way to study brain function

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Scientists create entirely new way to study brain function

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at Duke University and the University of North Carolina have devised a chemical technique that promises to allow neuroscientists to discover the function of any population of neurons in an animal brain, and provide clues to treating and preventing brain disease.

With the technique they describe in the journal Neuron online on July 15, scientists will be able to noninvasively activate entire populations of individual types of neurons within a brain structure.

"We have discovered a method in which systemic administration of an otherwise inert chemical to a mutant mouse selectively activates a single group of neurons," said James McNamara, M.D., chairman of the Duke Department of Neurobiology and co-senior author of the paper. "Elaborating on this method promises to let scientists engineer different kinds of mutant mice in which single groups of neurons will be activated by this chemical, so scientists can understand the behaviors mediated by each of these groups."

Right now, most scientists gain knowledge of brain function by correlating brain activity with certain behaviors; connecting a damaged brain area with an observed loss of function; or activating entire brain structures invasively and observing the resulting behavior.

Knowing what a particular type of neuron in a specific brain region does will help researchers find the root of certain diseases so they can be effectively treated, said McNamara, an expert in epilepsy. He pointed out that the human brain contains billions of neurons that are organized into thousands of distinct groups that need to be studied.

Four years ago, ...

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