Neuroscientists have discovered that dendrites - branch-like projections of neurons in the brain - which were previously thought to be passive, actively process information. The discovery of this so-called mini-brain computer could provide a better understanding of neurological disorders.
Neuroscientists from University College London (UCL) in the UK and the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill made this discovery, which was published recently in the journal Nature, after years of research.
"Suddenly, it's as if the processing power of the brain is much greater than we had originally thought," says Spencer Smith, assistant professor from the UNC School of Medicine.
The team notes previous research has demonstrated that dendrites use molecules supporting electrical spikes in axons - nerve fibers that direct electrical pulses away from the cell body - to create electrical spikes themselves.
However, it was unclear whether our normal brain activity uses those spikes from dendrites. The neuroscientists found that dendrites do actively process neuronal input signals on their own, acting as "mini-neural computers."
Local processing within dendrites
To demonstrate this, the two teams of scientists on either side of the Atlantic Ocean conducted a series of detailed experiments that spanned years.
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