Glia Cells

More than glue: Glia cells found to regulate synapses

December 30, 2011 by Editor

Glia cells: the brain's supervisors (credit: Gray's anatomy/Wikimedia Commons)

Glia cells are central to the brain’s plasticity, Tel Aviv Universityresearchers have found, controlling how the brain adapts, learns, and stores information — and their design can be implemented in neuromorphic computer chips.

Glia cells (Greek for “glue,” also known as glial) hold the brain’s neurons together and protect the cells that determine our thoughts and behaviors. But glia cells have now been found to do much more: a mechanism within the glia cells also regulate the synapses, sorting information for learning purposes, according to Ph.D. student Maurizio De Pittà of TAU’s Schools of Physics and Astronomy and Electrical Engineering.

“Glia cells are like the brain’s supervisors. They control the transfer of information between neurons, affecting how the brain processes information and learns.”/.../