STIMULATION AND SIGNALLING

Using magnets to influence the brain could lead to revolutionary new depression treatment. The method, tested in rats, targets star-shaped brain cells called astrocytes. Neuroscientists Dr Yichao Yu and Prof Mark Lythgoe at University College London tell us more…

- Dr Yichao Yu and Prof Mark Lythgoe

Your technique focused on astrocytes. What exactly are they?

Yichao Yu They’re a type of glial cell [non-neuronal cells that are found in the brain and spinal cord]. They’re very abundant, they outnumber neurons [nerve cells] many times over. Traditionally, they’re viewed as support cells, they recycle the neurotransmitters that neurons release. They do many logistical maintenance jobs in the brain. But in recent years, as we’ve learnt more about these cells, we’ve found that they have many other functions, such as regulating cognitive behaviour.

Mark Lythgoe For the last hundred years, they’ve been the second-class citizen in the brain in terms of cells. Neurons have taken the limelight because they’re electrically active [send electrical signals] and supposedly control all our functions. But astrocytes, although not electrically active in the same way, can communicate and sense and process and control bodily functions.