Human brain has 16 different types of neurons, study reveals

Discovery shows that the brain is more complex than previously thought - and could revolutionize the study of it



86 billion: this is the number of neurons that exist in the human brain. Despite this huge amount, so far, it was thought that these cells were equal to each other. But not quite: a study from the University of California has revealed that we have at least 16 types of neurons. And all this only in the cortex - the outer layer of the brain.

The discovery could revolutionize the study of the brain, because it shows that its structure is more complex than previously thought. The human body organs have different cell types, each specializing in a function - but none of them has, only on its surface, 16 different types.

The researchers drew 3227 neurons six parts of brain of a human body, and analyzed the RNA molecules (ribonucleic acid) of each - which revealed the existence of 16 different types of neuron. The next step is to better study these differences and try to understand how (and if) they correspond to brain functions.

If researchers can uncover the different functions of the different "species" of neurons, can create a map of the healthy brain - the model of an ideal brain, which define the perfect functioning of each cell. This chart serves as a control for the doctors to diagnose patients more accurately based on physical evidence (the number of affected neurons, for example), and not only symptoms - since, when symptoms appear, it is often too late for any medical intervention.

The idea is that if there are differences between neurons, diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, depression and schizophrenia should reach different neurons - and the map of aid, doctors could better treat their patients or perhaps to predict and prevent these diseases. Over time, this guide can help collect data enough to discover the healing of every evil.

But until then, it will take time: although scientists know where each type of neuron groups in the cortex, they have yet to determine exactly what the functions of each of these groups. So, researchers still need to better understand the functions of each "kind" of neuron and analyze neurons elsewhere in the brain - not only the cortex - to find out if there are more types.