Secret Skeleton

Electrical messages fly around our bodies in lightning-fast chain reactions, flowing from one nerve cell (neuron) towards another down spindly branches called axons – like these from a mouse’s brain. Researchers using a state-of-the-art technique called stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM) spotted something peculiar in these axons – patterns of lines running along the cell like sleepers in a railway track. In fact these are not lines at all, but tiny rings pictured from above. Made from a protein called βII spectrin, the rings are evenly spaced, providing the axon with an extra ‘skeleton’ to protect its neuronal signals and perhaps even helping to convey the messages themselves. Of course, there’s still much to be discovered about how the brain works, but techniques like STORM remind us that new secrets are being revealed every week as technology rapidly evolves.

Written by John Ankers

John Ankers

Writer

A former researcher in systems biology, John is now an online biology tutor and professional coach supporting the wellbeing of scientists and NHS professionals. He's writing, too, of course.

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• Image from work by Guisheng Zhong and colleagues
• Harvard University, USA
• Originally published under a Creative Commons Licence (BY 4.0)
• Research published in eLife, December 2014