The brains’ axons do jobs more than just transmitting information or electrical impulses from one brain cell to the other - it also turns the signals up or down with the right stimulation! — Does it seem to be defying what we have read in our test books?
Yes, it really does! Researchers have found this new function of axons - the hairlike nerve-cell extensions - for the first time. The new finding rightly brings hopes for patients with ‘psychiatric disorders’ like depression and schizophrenia.
The newfound function of the axons can eventually help scientists come up with new treatments for such diseases, in which different parts of the brain do not seem to communicate correctly with each other.
Raju Metherate, author of the study, associate professor of neurobiology and behavior, and director of the Center for Hearing Research at UC Irvine said,
Until now, scientists have thought that in the brain’s cortex — where most cognitive processes occur — information was only processed in the cell body. The result of our study suggests that we must consider the axons as sites of information processing - and of potential problems when things go wrong.
Though for decades the axons are thought to be like a radio-wire that conveys signals, the new finding reveals that stimulating the axon can eventually and amazingly alter the signal! - It is like turning the radio’s volume knob.
