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Light-activated enhancement of information processing |
DOI:
10.1038/nature07991 DOI:
10.1038/nature08002 |
A particular type of electrical activity, driven by a specific subset of neurons, has been shown to boost information processing in brain circuits. |
The
discovery, reported online in two Nature
papers this week, was made possible by a genetic technique that enables the
functional components of neural circuitry to be teased apart, and may boost our
understanding of schizophrenia. In
a previous Nature paper
(published online 18 March 2009), Karl Deisseroth and colleagues described a
genetic switch that uses light to control nerve cell activity. Here,
Deisseroth’s team expressed the switch in a particular type of nerve cell
(parvalbumin-expressing interneurons) that has been proposed to have a role in
information processing. The team shows that these neurons generate a type of
brain wave, called gamma oscillations, to boost signal transmission within and
between cortical cellular circuits. |
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