A team of scientists has discovered a new type of brain cell that holds “tremendous prospects for research” in diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, it was announced this Wednesday.
The brain is made up of two large families of cells — neurons and glial cells — but a team of scientists introduced a new cell type in a study published in the journal Nature as part of a study coordinated by researchers at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. .
Since the dawn of neuroscience, it has been recognized that the brain operates mainly due to neurons and their ability to process and quickly transmit information through their networks.
To support them in this task, glial cells perform a number of structural, energetic and immunological functions in addition to stabilizing physiological constants.
The new discovery, which the researchers have dubbed “glutamatergic astrocytes,” is a hybrid cell halfway between neurons and glial cells, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Some glial cells, known as astrocytes, closely surround synapses, contact points where neurotransmitters are released to relay information between neurons.
This is why neuroscientists have long suggested that astrocytes may play an active role in synaptic transmission and information processing, but research has yielded mixed results.
By identifying a new cell type with characteristics of an astrocyte and expressing the molecular machinery required for synaptic transmission, the team put an end to years of controversy, the University of Lausanne (UNIL) said in a statement.
The implications of this discovery extend to brain disorders, as by targeting “glutamatergic astrocytes,” the team showed an effect on memory consolidation, but also found an association with pathologies such as epilepsy, whose seizures were exacerbated.
The study shows that this new cell type also plays a role in the regulation of brain circuits involved in movement control and could be a therapeutic agent for Parkinson’s disease.
The discovery “opens up huge research opportunities,” said UNIL’s Andrea Volterra and lead author of the study.
Future studies “will explore the possible protective role of this cell type against memory impairment in Alzheimer’s disease, as well as their function in other regions and pathologies than those studied here,” he added.