“The brain is wider than the sky.” Here’s how it works.
Your brain is full of billions of neurons that communicate with each other.
In some ways the neuronal circuits in our brains are not dissimilar to the electrical circuits used to make computers. This image shows a mathematical approach to understanding how a small region of the brain processes information.
This type of mathematical modelling of brain circuitry can be used to make predictions about how communication between neurons is changed in in brain disorders.
Aleksander Domanski and Peter Kind at the Centre for Integrative Physiology and the Patrick Wild Centre / University of Edinburgh
Neurons branch out from their central cell body into "dendrites" which are studded with spines.
These spines are where the cell receives most of its information from other neurons. The cell then integrates the thousands of “voices” it receives to decide what information it needs to pass on to the hundreds to thousands of cells it will speak to.
Peter Kind and Sally Till at the Centre for Integrative Physiology and the Patrick Wild Centre
Information travels over very long distances through nerve fibres called axons.
Axons are the cables that neurons use to transmit their information, often over relatively long distances and taking highly circuitous routes. In this picture of a developing brain, axons (red) from a part of the brain called the thalamus navigate through another part of the brain (green) that helps guide them to their destination near the surface of the brain (blue).
James Clegg and David Price at the Centre for Integrative Physiology / University of Edinburgh
These nerve fibres are covered in a fatty insulating substance called myelin.
The electrical connections between brain cells need to be reliable and fast for the brain to function properly. The fatty substance myelin helps information travel faster along axons.
This picture shows the myelin on axons which carry information about touch to the brain. When myelin is lost, neurons lose their ability to communicate efficiently. This is what happens in several neurological diseases, including Multiple Sclerosis (MS).
Chih-Yuan Chiang, Trudi Gillespie, Peter Kind, and Sally Till at the Centre for Integrative Physiology and the Patrick Wild Centre / University of Edinburgh
