Study: Thought to be impossible - Electric messaging in Brain

R

roller*

Senior Member (Voting Rights)
'Jaw-dropping' breakthrough reveals a brand new way our brains work: Cells send messages to totally separate parts of our minds using electrical signals (and scientists previously thought this was impossible)

Brain cells can create an electrical field that triggers nearby neurons to pass on a message without any physical or chemical connections.

'It was a jaw-dropping moment, for us and for every scientist we told about this so far, said Dominique Duran, a professor at the Case School of Engineering in Cleveland, Ohio.

'We don't know yet the "So what?" part of this discovery entirely,' said Professor Duran.

'But we do know that this seems to be an entirely new form of communication in the brain, so we are very excited about this.'

The world of neuroscience has believed there to be only three ways signals can be relayed across the brain: axonal transmission, synapses and at 'gap-junctions'. These all include either physical links or chemicals in order to propagate the electrical signal. This has now been disproved

'We've known about these waves for a long time, but no one knows their exact function and no one believed they could spontaneously propagate,' Professor Durand said.

By JOE PINKSTONE FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 12:36 GMT, 19 February 2019 | UPDATED: 12:42 GMT, 19 February 2019
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/science...covered-brains-communicate-brand-new-way.html
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SHORTENED VERSION

The Research from the Physiological Society https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1113/JP276904
Volume597, Issue1 / 1 January 2019 / Pages 249-269

Research Paper / Free Access

Slow periodic activity in the longitudinal hippocampal slice can self‐propagate non‐synaptically by a mechanism consistent with ephaptic coupling

Chia‐Chu Chiang
Rajat S. Shivacharan
Xile Wei
Luis E. Gonzalez‐Reyes
Dominique M. Durand

First published: 08 October 2018
https://doi.org/10.1113/JP276904

Edited by: Ole Paulsen & Matthew Nolan
C.‐C. Chiang, R. S. Shivacharan and X. Wei contributed equally to this work.
Linked articles: : This article is highlighted in a Perspectives article by Dickson. To read this article, visithttps://doi.org/10.1113/JP277233.

Abstract

Key points
  • Slow periodic activity can propagate with speeds around 0.1 m s−1 and be modulated by weak electric fields.
  • Slow periodic activity in the longitudinal hippocampal slice can propagate without chemical synaptic transmission or gap junctions, but can generate electric fields which in turn activate neighbouring cells.
  • Applying local extracellular electric fields with amplitude in the range of endogenous fields is sufficient to modulate or block the propagation of this activity both in the in silico and in the in vitro models.
  • Results support the hypothesis that endogenous electric fields, previously thought to be too small to trigger neural activity, play a significant role in the self‐propagation of slow periodic activity in the hippocampus.
  • Experiments indicate that a neural network can give rise to sustained self‐propagating waves by ephaptic coupling, suggesting a novel propagation mechanism for neural activity under normal physiological conditions.
Abstract
Slow oscillations are a standard feature observed in the cortex and the hippocampus during slow wave sleep. Slow oscillations are characterized by low‐frequency periodic activity (<1 Hz) and are thought to be related to memory consolidation. These waves are assumed to be a reflection of the underlying neural activity, but it is not known if they can, by themselves, be self‐sustained and propagate. Previous studies have shown that slow periodic activity can be reproduced in the in vitro preparation to mimic in vivo slow oscillations. Slow periodic activity can propagate with speeds around 0.1 m s−1 and be modulated by weak electric fields. In the present study, we show that slow periodic activity in the longitudinal hippocampal slice is a self‐regenerating wave which can propagate with and without chemical or electrical synaptic transmission at the same speeds. We also show that applying local extracellular electric fields can modulate or even block the propagation of this wave in both in silico and in vitro models. Our results support the notion that ephaptic coupling plays a significant role in the propagation of the slow hippocampal periodic activity. Moreover, these results indicate that a neural network can give rise to sustained self‐propagating waves by ephaptic coupling, suggesting a novel propagation mechanism for neural activity under normal physiological conditions.

Discussion
In summary, the present study shows that the in vitro slow periodic activity, mediated by the NMDA spikes, can propagate non‐synaptically by a mechanism consistent with ephaptic coupling. This study implies that ephaptic coupling could play an important role in the propagation of neural activity under normal physiological conditions as well as in pathological situations.
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... some sense sort of "electrical charge" or brain zaps occassionally in the brain ...
... noise/tinnitus, could such electricity waves generate noise ?


... also, there seem bacteria (in the gut and brain) that may transfer electric signals
Gut bacteria’s shocking secret: They produce electricity
By Robert Sanders, Media relations| SEPTEMBER 12, 2018
https://news.berkeley.edu/2018/09/12/gut-bacterias-shocking-secret-they-produce-electricity/
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... such gut bacteria have been found in healthy brains https://www.livescience.com/64098-bacteria-brain-microbiome.html


... could these electric waves explain hypnosis or synchronised brain waves as below ?
  1. EEG in the classroom: Synchronised neural recordings during video ...
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5339684/
    7 Mar 2017 ... We performed simultaneous recordings of electroencephalography (EEG) from multiple students in a classroom, and measured the ...

  2. Students' Brains Sync Up When They're in an Engaging Class ...
    https://www.smithsonianmag.com/scie...s-gets-your-brains-same-wavelength-180963075/
    28 Apr 2017 ... The use of portable EEG systems to monitor natural teacher-student ... for how much students are comprehending overall in the classroom.

  3. When students pay attention in class, their brains are in sync ...
    https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170427120908.htm
    27 Apr 2017 ... That's the conclusion of researchers who used portable EEG to simultaneously record brain activity from a class of high school students over ...
 
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So...all exam results, of all the exams taken, ever, are now in question, as the stupid brains have been communicating with the less stupid brains by brain field communication?

If all you have to do is pay attention, be in sync, and the answers will come to you.....

It's the end of civilisation, or would be if exam results meant anything.
 
wish i could understand this..

but when its possible, that electric signals in part 1 of brain A communicate with signals in part 98 of brain A

... then why shouldnt it be possible that stronger (amplified) signals from brain A can communicate with signals in brain B ?
 
roller* said:
wish i could understand this..

but when its possible, that electric signals in part 1 of brain A communicate with signals in part 98 of brain A

... then why shouldnt it be possible that stronger (amplified) signals from brain A can communicate with signals in brain B ?
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I think the signals would have to be so strong the grey matter would just go up in smoke, except the energy would not be there to do it anyway.
 
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