Measuring Neural Physiology
- Reviewed27 Feb 2023
- Author Susan Rojahn
- Source BrainFacts/SfN
Brains act as centralization hubs that process and govern everything we experience and do. To do this is no easy feat, and we are steadily coming to better understand how we carry out this major undertaking.
Information is conveyed along the neuronal pathways that crisscross through our brains as electrical activity traveling down axons. To study this activity, researchers measure changes in the electrical charge of individual neurons using techniques of electrophysiology. A thin glass electrode is placed inside a neuron to measure the voltage across its cell membrane, which changes when the neuron is activated. This technique can measure neuronal activity inside the brains of living lab animals such as rats or mice, enabling scientists to study how neurons transmit electrical information in their normal physical context. Alternatively, a slice of brain can be kept “alive” for a short time in a Petri dish, if the right environment (temperature, pH, ion concentrations, etc.) is provided. In an isolated brain slice, researchers can better identify the exact cell they are recording from and can infuse drugs into the Petri dish to determine their effects on the brain.
Using these methods, scientists have made critical discoveries about synaptic plasticity — the capacity of a synapse to become stronger or weaker in response to sensory inputs or other activity. For example, repeatedly stimulating a neuron by training an animal in a particular task, or by direct electrical stimulation, increases the synaptic strength and the chance that the downstream neuron will react to the incoming signal.
A disadvantage of electrophysiology, as described above, is that the techniques are highly invasive. However, another method, called electroencephalography or EEG, is able to record human brain activity without invasive or harmful procedures. In EEG, about 20 thin metal discs are placed on the scalp. Each disk is connected by thin wires to a machine that records the activity of neurons near the brain surface. This approach has been especially useful for understanding epilepsy and the stages of sleep. However, it does not provide information at the level of individual neurons.
Researchers who need to look at individual neurons in a living brain can use a technique called two-photon microscopy. A lab animal such as a fly or mouse must be genetically modified so that some of its neurons produce a protein that glows when a laser beam shines on them. Two-photon microscopy has enabled scientists to understand changes in the brain during normal processes like learning, as well as changes that occur over the course of a disease — for example, watching how the branches on neurons near Alzheimer’s-like plaques break down over time.
Adapted from the 8th edition of Brain Facts by Susan Rojahn.
About the Author
Susan Rojahn is a science writer in Galveston, Texas. After earning her PhD in molecular and cellular biology from UC Berkeley, she studied science journalism at UC Santa Cruz. She has a passion for writing about brain science, and has contributed news stories, press releases, and a book chapter to the Society for Neuroscience.
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BrainFacts/SfN
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