New way to image brain-cell activity could shed light on
autism and other psychiatric disorders.
A team led by MIT neuroscientists has developed a way to
monitor how brain cells coordinate with each other to control specific
behaviors, such as initiating movement or detecting an odor.
The researchers’ new imaging technique, based on the
detection of calcium ions in neurons, could help them map the brain circuits
that perform such functions. It could also provide new insights into the
origins of autism, obsessive-compulsive disorder and other psychiatric
diseases, says Guoping Feng, senior author of a paper appearing in the Oct. 18
issue of the journal Neuron.