Brain complexity: neuron traffic hubs (Introduction)

by David Turell , Thursday, January 21, 2016, 15:25 (3229 days ago) @ David Turell

Information appears to be channeled through hubs of neurons:-http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/160120142957.htm-"70 percent of all information within cortical regions in the brain passes through only 20 percent of its regions' neurons, report researchers. The scientists report these high-traffic "hub neurons" could play a role in understanding brain health since this sort of highly efficient network -- in which a small number of neurons are more essential to brain function -- is also more vulnerable to disruption. That's because relatively small breakages can cause the whole system to "go down." -***-"The discovery of this small but information-rich subset of neurons within cortical regions suggests this sub-network might play a vital role in communication, learning and memory," said Sunny Nigam, a Ph.D. candidate in the IU Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences' Department of Physics, who is the lead author on the study.-"The scientists also report these high-traffic "hub neurons" could play a role in understanding brain health since this sort of highly efficient network -- in which a small number of neurons are more essential to brain function -- is also more vulnerable to disruption. That's because relatively small breakages can cause the whole system to "go down."-"'The brain seems to favor efficiency over vulnerability," said John M. Beggs, associate professor of biophysics in the IU Bloomington Department of Physics, who is senior author on the paper. "In addition to helping us understand how the cortex processes information, this work could shed light on how the brain responds to neurodegenerative diseases that affect the 'network.'"-***-"The experiments, conducted in live and tissue samples, were based in rodents. But similar high-traffic zones in the cortex have been shown to exist in more advanced mammals, including primates and adult humans. The IU study is the first to explore the behavior of this region in mammals at the level of individual neurons, however, with the only previous similar experiment conducted in worms."-Comment: Considering how complex the brain is, this simplification of traffic flow looks like reasonable planning to me.