Researchers at the HUN-REN Institute of Experimental Medicine (KOKI) have uncovered the precise mechanisms occurring at synapses, the connection points between neurons, using an extremely high-resolution microscope.
The human nervous system comprises approximately 86 billion neurons, interconnected by an estimated 100 trillion synapses, according to a Tuesday statement by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA). Synapses are the sites where electrical signals, or impulses, are transmitted from one neuron to another.
‘One might say that neurons ‘‘converse’’ with each other through synapses, but the ‘‘volume’’ of this conversation matters,’ the statement elaborated.
‘The strength of synapses can be likened to adjusting the volume on a speaker:
the signal transmission of a single synapse can be completely silenced or gradually amplified to its highest level, akin to turning the volume up slowly to maximum,’ Head of the Molecular Neurobiology Research Group at HUN-REN KOKI István Katona explained. He emphasized that the strength of synapses significantly determines brain function, necessitating precise regulation of the strength of all 100 trillion neural connections.
This ‘volume control’ has been under investigation at KOKI for a long time, as part of a research programme initiated 25 years ago by Tamás Freund and E. Szilveszter Vizi, the current and former presidents of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA), respectively. The researchers have now made significant progress in understanding the process, having observed the exact quantity and localization of critical regulatory molecules within synapses. This marks
the first time globally that such measurements have been made within a single synapse of a neural network.
Katona highlighted that one of the major challenges in synapse research was their minuscule size, falling within the nanometre scale. Such small dimensions necessitate specialized microscopy. This capability became available to the researchers in 2013, with the support of the MTA Lendület (Momentum) Programme, allowing them to embark on new microscopy developments. The new microscope enabled them to examine synapses with nanometre precision (a nanometre being one billionth of a metre).
The significance of this discovery is underscored by its publication on the cover of Science Advances, one of the world’s leading scientific journals. Detailed accounts of the research findings are available on the Hungarian Academy of Sciences’ website.
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