[MURG] Nanotech breakthrough shows how brain cells chatter

[Calin Plesa]

Some interesting news:

"French scientists using an innovative microscopic scanning technique say they have discovered that nerve cells almost buzz with molecular agitation when they communicate with each other. 
The work sheds light on how cells operate at the synapse -- the minute gap between neurons, as nerve cells are called.

Neurons communicate by sending chemical signals across the synapse, which then latch on to specific targets, known as receptors, on the membrane of the adjoining cell."

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_421345,00040006.htm

More Info:

Diffusion Dynamics of Glycine Receptors Revealed by Single-Quantum Dot Tracking
Maxime Dahan,1* Sabine Lévi,2* Camilla Luccardini,1 Philippe Rostaing,2 Béatrice Riveau,2 Antoine Triller2


Semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) are nanometer-sized fluorescent probes suitable for advanced biological imaging. We used QDs to track individual glycine receptors (GlyRs) and analyze their lateral dynamics in the neuronal membrane of living cells for periods ranging from milliseconds to minutes. We characterized multiple diffusion domains in relation to the synaptic, perisynaptic, or extrasynaptic GlyR localization. The entry of GlyRs into the synapse by diffusion was observed and further confirmed by electron microscopy imaging of QD-tagged receptors. 

Science 2003 October 17; 302: 442-445.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/302/5644/442?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&author1=Triller%2C+Antoine&searchid=1066632037065_46&stored_search=&FIRSTINDEX=0&fdate=10/1/1995&tdate=10/31/2003




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