Small but Mighty

Commonly referred to as the ‘powerhouse of the cell’, mitochondria are tiny units that fuel the cells in our body by converting oxygen and nutrients into energy. Most mitochondria in our cells are long and tubular, so neuroscientists have long wondered why there's a sub-group of mitochondria in brain cells (neurons) that are not only much smaller but also spherical. A possible answer is that thousands of these mitochondria (right, stained in white) need to fit into the slender branches that grow out of neurons (left, stained in green). These branches allow neurons to communicate with one another, and to do so they need the energy generated by mitochondria. Without a readily available supply of energy, there would be no fuel to build and power this superhighway of brain cell connections.

Written by Gaëlle Coullon

Gaëlle Coullon

Writer

Gaëlle is a consultant and trainer in research communication and commercialisation. As an ex-neuroscientist, she is always looking for new ways to combine her love of writing with everything brain related.

• Image by Tommy Lewis of the Polleux lab at Columbia's Zuckerman Institute
• Zuckerman Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
• Image copyright held by the original authors
• Research published in Nature Communications, November 2018