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Mysterious Brain Cells Linked to Blood Flow
sciam.com — Nearly a century after the discovery of strange star-shaped cells in the brain, scientists say they have finally begun to unravel their function.
ShuTian- 625 diggs
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- Liganic, on 06/21/2008, -16/+2"No Comments!
It's quiet in here... can you hear the echo?"
Echo..echo...cho....ho..o ...yep. - VitriolAndAngst, on 06/21/2008, -2/+13"regions activated during tasks and activities from solving problems to daydreaming." -- So using your brain more causes more blood flow to neurons, which might help repair and reduce (but not stop) certain brain abnormalities. This might explain the reduction in Alzheimer's with more educated people.
- itcoll, on 06/21/2008, -2/+1good .
- rootsm3, on 06/21/2008, -5/+2I don't think neurons have a blood supply because of the brain blood barrier. :/ Yes no maybe so?
- rootsm3, on 06/21/2008, -4/+1-2 diggs = no. Thank God for science.
- endlessoul, on 06/21/2008, -1/+3You think science has anything to do with the amount of digg up/downs?
- dse82, on 06/21/2008, -0/+7I'll answer your question rootsm3!
neurons do have a blood supply. the blood brain barrier just controls what gets to them. small molecules just pass through and bigger ones have to pass through specific channels. so the oxygen and glucose needed for energy can still get through, but its a controlled process. and it looks like astrocytes are now a big part of that control, not surprising as their processes encase blood vessels and form a one of the layers of the blood brain barrier.
- rootsm3, on 06/21/2008, -4/+1-2 diggs = no. Thank God for science.
- Ahavex, on 06/21/2008, -9/+1yea I think vitiriol has a point!!
it's convincing.. - flyalot, on 06/21/2008, -8/+3Sponge Bob was right! It's Patrick controlling everyone!
- debuggercll, on 06/21/2008, -0/+2He meant a brown starfish.
- roflbrothel, on 06/21/2008, -11/+4I am posting simply for the sake of posting. Please bury me.
- nedy78, on 06/21/2008, -1/+2Interesting, the axons and dendrites also have a star shape.
- neuron79, on 06/21/2008, -2/+2No, they don't.
Axons and dendrites (aka 'neuropil') are relatively linear extensions projecting from the neuron soma (cell body). You're probably thinking about the neurons, which potentially can demonstrate a "star" shape. - nedy78, on 06/21/2008, -2/+4Sorry dude should have been more specific, they are all part of a functional unit. Should have known somebody with the name neuron79 was going to digg me down.
- neuron79, on 06/21/2008, -2/+2No, they don't.
- echelonist, on 06/21/2008, -0/+1So now, will we start to see some new drugs that target astrocytes in the big pharmas pipeline ? .. and what about Bipolar disorders ? if astrocytes control the flow of resources to other brain cells like neurons, maybe they are responsible to distributing too much resources to some sensitive zone when the bipolar is (hypo)manic and not enough when the bipolar is in depression.
/uneducated guess - AlienMushroom, on 06/21/2008, -1/+11Is there any brain cell that is not mysterious?
- Specializedone, on 06/21/2008, -2/+1Want tons of grant money to come your way? Link your findings to autism and other neurological diseases ...
While it is interesting to note that there is now evidence for a major neurological role for astrocytes, no part of Autism literature suggests that it is one malfunction in the brain responsible for all the symptoms. The only thing he has going for him is that astrocytes are now important enough to warrant looking at further, and a malfunction in them could cause an as of yet unknown disorder. Bah, i hate it when researchers are more likely to publish their findings to the world than through a peer-reviewed process.- MostlyHarmless, on 06/21/2008, -0/+3...this was peer-reviewed, it appeared in Science this week (sciencemag.org). It's actually a pretty big deal, there hasn't before been a direct causal relationship shown between neuronal firing patterns and the increase in blood flow that fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) measures. Since fMRI is getting a lot of attention and is being used more and more, this kind of discovery is really important for helping us understand what's really going on in the brain.
- psyclonic, on 06/21/2008, -0/+2I want that sensor on a neck chain detecting neural frequency bluetoothed to my cell phone - no sense getting pharma involved.
- tkhan456, on 06/21/2008, -3/+1ooooold news
- rootsm3, on 06/21/2008, -1/+4Of course not, but nobody answered my damn question and just dugg it down. That's ridiculous.
- richiewrt, on 06/21/2008, -0/+1I guess we all have stars upon ours.
- Riggs, on 06/21/2008, -0/+2Interesting, I never even knew about star-shaped cells in the brain. Dugg.
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