A single class of brain cells produces serotonin. In trying to understand how these serotonergic neurons do so many jobs, neuroscientists have proposed that they come in different subtypes that have different properties and responsibilities. However, technological limitations have made it hard to prove the hypothesis. Now, thanks to new genetics tools, Harvard Medical School researchers and their collaborators have identified many different molecular subtypes of serotonergic neurons in mice and shown that these subtypes can be linked to different functions and different brain circuits. Historically, neurons have been classified based on neurotransmitter type and physical location. By applying molecular, genetic, electrophysiological and behavioral approaches, we in the neuroscience community are realizing its much more complex, medicalxpress/news/2014-12-serotonin-neuron-subtypes-insights-sids.html
Posted on: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 14:38:20 +0000