Neural Regeneration Research ›› 2022, Vol. 17 ›› Issue (6): 1251-1252.doi: 10.4103/1673-5374.327332

Previous Articles     Next Articles

The code of light: do neurons generate light to communicate and repair?

Cecile Moro, Ann Liebert, Catherine Hamilton, Nicolas Pasqual, Glen Jeffery, Jonathan Stone, John Mitrofanis*   

  1. Université Grenoble Alpes, CEA, LETI, Clinatec, Grenoble, France (Moro C, Mitrofanis J)
    Department of Anatomy, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia (Liebert A, Hamilton C)
    Vie Integrative, Grenoble, France (Pasqual N)
    Institute of Ophthalmology, University College London, London, UK (Jeffery G, Mitrofanis J)
    Department of Physiology, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia (Stone J)
  • Online:2022-06-15 Published:2021-12-16
  • Contact: John Mitrofanis, PhD, john.mitrofanis@me.com.

PDF

59

Abstract: A great challenge in neuroscience has been to understand how neurons communicate. The neuroanatomists of the 19th Century could see neurons stretching processes to contact other neurons, but could not see the detail of the contact. Many thought that neurons formed a syncytium, with continuity of membranes from one to the next. Over the ensuing two hundred years or so, we have come to understand that the circuity of the brain is not formed by a syncytium of neurons; rather, individual neurons communicate with each other with a range of biological signals. Neurons are highly active cells, with their activity being electrical and their communication being either chemical, electrical or gaseous.