Now in our 13th year of bringing you beautiful imagery from biomedical science every day

Search the archive of over 4000 images

Spying on Synapses

Coloured probes enable the complex protein activity at nerve connections –the synapses – to be visualised

29 October 2019

Spying on Synapses

Your brain is buzzing with millions of spidery connections that pass signals from one nerve cell to the next, known as synapses. Each synapse is constructed from hundreds of different protein molecules, ensuring that the correct connections are made so that the right messages get through. Problems with synapse proteins can lead to conditions such as schizophrenia and autism, but efforts to understand what’s going on have been hampered by the difficulty of studying multiple molecules within the same synapse at once. That’s now changed, thanks to the development of new coloured probes that can ‘paint’ many different synapse proteins at the same time so they can be visualised with a high-powered microscope, as seen in these images of synapses between rat nerve cells. The technique allows researchers to study different synapses at an incredibly detailed level and see the impact of genetic changes that are associated with neurological conditions.

Written by Kat Arney

Search The Archive

Submit An Image

Follow on Tumblr

Follow on Instagram

What is BPoD?

BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

Read More

BPoD is also available in Catalan at www.bpod.cat with translations by the University of Valencia.