Science explains the white matter of the brain

The human brain is a constant hum.
Its 86 billion nerve cells (neurons) send electrical signals from one area of ​​the brain to another
.
The signal is transmitted along the white matter fibers, which is a maze of wire-like fibers that ultimately produces all the brain functions

Recently, neuroscientists Aviv Mezer and Dr.
Roey Schurr of the Edmond and Lily Safra Brain Science Center (ELSC) of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI) developed a new method to map and visualize these nerve fibers
.
They used a technique that has existed for nearly 140 years, but has never been used to study the fiber structure of the white matter of the brain

For a long time, scientists have been using the purple Nissel staining method to study the neurons themselves, this staining method was invented by the German medical student Franz Nissel in the 1880s
.
It is used to dye neurons and completely changes our understanding of the cerebral cortex, the outer gray layer of the brain

The white matter of the brain is mainly composed of nerve fibers and a group of cells called glial
.
Until recently, these glial cells were largely ignored and considered to be fairly unimportant space fillers in the brain-in fact, their name "glia" comes from ancient Greece, which means "glue

Other research took over, but recently Shure returned to his unusual observations

This technique is called nisl-st ("structure tensor based on nisl") by the researchers at the Hebrew University and can be applied to any white matter in brain slices that have undergone nisl staining

Mezer concluded: "The application of Nissl-ST has great potential for future research on the role of white matter in normal brain development, aging, and pathological states that affect white matter (such as neurodegeneration and schizophrenia)

Article title

The glial framework reveals white-matter fiber architecture in human and primate brains.