Imaging your Inhibitions

There are 10 times as many neurons in your brain as there are people on the planet. It’s, therefore, understandably difficult to map these nerve cells. Researchers now take on this challenge by focusing on a group that reduce the activity of other neurons, namely inhibitory neurons. Using large-scale electron microscopy, they mapped inhibitory neurons called chandelier cells, which make connections called synapses with pyramidal neurons, in part of the mouse brain responsible for vision. The images were reconstructed into 3D models (pictured), which were used to help simulate the effects of chandelier cell (red) synapses on the activity of pyramidal neurons (grey). They found a particular type of synapse, axo-axonic synapses, were especially effective at reducing the activity of pyramidal neurons that were simultaneously being stimulated and inhibited. This comprehensive mapping sheds light on how neurons control their activity in the brain.

Written by Lux Fatimathas

Lux Fatimathas

Writer

Having pursued science through a career in research, communications and publishing, she is currently a writer and editor for a healthcare marketing agency and also juggles freelance science writing.

• Video from work by Casey M Schneider-Mizell and colleagues
• Allen Institute for Brain Sciences, Seattle, WA, USA
• Video originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Published in eLife, December 2021