With electrical signals zapping at speeds up to 288 km/h (180 mph), neurons are the most well-known cells in the central nervous system. They are the basic unit of information processing. Neurons transmit electrical signals to each other in neuronal circuits through junctions called synapses, and these junctions are formed between protrusions called spines.
The break down of synapses in large numbers can lead to cognitive decline. Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is one such debilitating disorder of the nervous system, which causes alternating phases of inflammation and recovery. The synapses of people with MS are destroyed progressively over time. But it is still unclear how and why this synapse loss occurs.
To better understand this process, a team of researchers at the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Germany injected inflammation-inducing factors into the brains of mice, to mimic MS as seen in humans. They looked at the brains of live mice across days using advanced light microscopy. Three days after the injection, during the inflammation phase, they saw widespread loss of a certain subset of synapses. As a result, neurons were not firing as actively as they should have been. However, once those synapses were re-established two weeks after injection, during the recovery phase, the neuronal activities of the mice were back to normal.
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