This could help neuroscientists study how small fluctuations impact a neuron’s overall behavior, which has previously been very difficult to do in living brains, says paper co–corresponding author Xue Han, a BU College of Engineering associate professor of biomedical engineering, describing the advance. With the new voltage sensor, it is also possible to measure very small fluctuations in activity that occur even when a neuron is not firing a big spike in electrical activity. Using a voltage-sensing molecule that fluorescently lights up when brain cells are electrically active, researchers at Boston University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have shown that they can see the activity of many more individual neurons than before as they fire inside the brains of mice. Now, a new technique reported in Nature finally gives the clearest picture ever of brain cell activity. Yet, for a long time, it’s been challenging for scientists to see exactly how individual neurons work together in larger circuits. Brain cells function using rapid electrical impulses, a process that underlies our thoughts, behavior, and perception of the world.
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