Research

Overlooked cell type orchestrates brain rewiring

Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis •
Colored bursts indicate activity in astrocyte cells in a mouse brain. Exposure to a signaling chemical called norepinephrine triggers a coordinated wave of activity. The lab of Thomas Papouin, assistant professor of neuroscience at WashU Medicine, discovered that astrocytes are responsible for modifying brain activity in response to norepinephrine. (Image courtesy of Thomas Papouin)
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Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have upended decades-old dogma of how connections between brain cells are rearranged during states of heightened vigilance or attention. The team found that a brain chemical associated with alertness, attention and learning alters brain connectivity and function not by acting directly on neurons, the cells known for their quick transmission of information, but through the work of astrocytes, another, slower-acting type of brain cell that is often overlooked in the field of neuroscience.