Traditionally, neuroscience regards the brain as being made up of two basic tissue types. Billions of neurons make up the grey matter, forming a thin layer on the brain's surface. These neuronal cells are interlinked in a mindboggling network by hundreds of millions of white matter connections, running in bundles, deeper in the brain.
Until very recently, not much was known about the interface between the white and grey matter - the so-called superficial white matter - because methods were lacking to study it in living human brains. Yet, previous investigations had suggested the region to be implicated in devastating conditions such as Alzheimer's disease and autism. Now a multidisciplinary team has succeeded in making the superficial white matter visible in the living human brain.
"We demonstrated that the superficial white matter contains a lot of iron. It is known that iron is necessary for the process of myelination," explains first author of the study published in Science Advances. Myelin is what makes the white matter white. It's the fatty coating of nerve cell axons that speeds up transmission of information through the brain. The myelination process can occur throughout the lifespan but is predominant during development. In fact, the largest concentration of iron the researchers found was in the superficial white matter in regions of the frontal cortex, which happens to be the slowest developing structure in the human brain. Incredibly, the human frontal cortex is not fully myelinated until the forth decade of life.
The key to the new method is MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) but at very high field strength. While typical clinical MRI scanners work at 1.5 or 3 Tesla, in terms of the strength of the magnetic field, the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences houses a powerful 7 Tesla scanner. This, in combination with advanced biophysical model, allowed the team to create very high resolution maps of the white-grey matter border across the entire living brain. The accuracy of their submillimetre maps was assessed against classic and advanced histological methods involving physical dissection and analysis of post mortem brains.
The new method promises many further insights into the organisation of the interface between white and grey matter. The author adds, "We hope the method can be used to increase our understanding of brain development as well as pathological conditions involving the superficial white matter."
https://www.mpg.de/15497544/what-lies-between-grey-and-white-in-the-brain
https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/41/eaaz9281
http://sciencemission.com/site/index.php?page=news&type=view&id=publications%2Fsuperficial-white&filter=22
Iron and white matter in the brain
- 1,185 views
- Added
Edited
Latest News
Complete vascularization of…
By newseditor
Posted 28 Mar
Immune cells identified as…
By newseditor
Posted 28 Mar
TB blood test which could d…
By newseditor
Posted 27 Mar
Propionate supplementation…
By newseditor
Posted 27 Mar
Role of human Kallistatin i…
By newseditor
Posted 26 Mar
Other Top Stories
Blood test to detect and treat depression
Read more
A new marker for the most common form of ALS
Read more
A novel method for generating airway cells from stem cells
Read more
Can you reverse aging?
Read more
Exploring Huntingtin!
Read more
Protocols
Spatial proteomics in neuro…
By newseditor
Posted 28 Mar
All-optical presynaptic pla…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Mar
Epigenomic tomography for p…
By newseditor
Posted 20 Mar
A mouse DRG genetic toolkit…
By newseditor
Posted 17 Mar
An optogenetic method for t…
By newseditor
Posted 13 Mar
Publications
A microfluidic platform int…
By newseditor
Posted 28 Mar
Salmonella manipulates macr…
By newseditor
Posted 28 Mar
BHLHE40/41 regulate microgl…
By newseditor
Posted 28 Mar
Balancing neuronal activity…
By newseditor
Posted 28 Mar
OSBP-mediated PI(4)P-choles…
By newseditor
Posted 28 Mar
Presentations
Hydrogels in Drug Delivery
By newseditor
Posted 12 Apr
Lipids
By newseditor
Posted 31 Dec
Cell biology of carbohydrat…
By newseditor
Posted 29 Nov
RNA interference (RNAi)
By newseditor
Posted 23 Oct
RNA structure and functions
By newseditor
Posted 19 Oct
Posters
A chemical biology/modular…
By newseditor
Posted 22 Aug
Single-molecule covalent ma…
By newseditor
Posted 04 Jul
ASCO-2020-HEALTH SERVICES R…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Mar
ASCO-2020-HEAD AND NECK CANCER
By newseditor
Posted 23 Mar
ASCO-2020-GENITOURINARY CAN…
By newseditor
Posted 23 Mar