New Study Suggest 100 Billion Synapses Are Key to Proper Neurological Processing

How many neurons with synapses does the human body have?

It’s a big number — about 100 billion. And it’s a big job that they command when it comes to efficient human function.

“Neurons that contain synapses (are) point-to-point contacts for information transfer,” according to a new study by researchers at the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience and the Pasteur Institute.

“Every function, feeling, and action depends on the ability of synapses within neurons to maintain continuous communication with each other,” notes Medical Xpress in a recent post about the research. “Synapses transmit information in the form of synaptic vesicles that contain specific chemical messengers called neurotransmitters. The continuous release of neurotransmitters is essential to maintain communication between neurons.”

What the researchers did was isolate a key factor in how information transmittal is regulated.

Why does it matter?

“To better understand a number of neurological disorders, we need a better understanding of how synapses continuously relay information between neurons,” the report summarizes. “(The) new study has discovered a key factor in regulating this continual communication is the proximity of synaptic vesicles next to voltage gated calcium channels within synapses.”

It’s complicated research — and involves complicated concepts — but the takeaway is important.

The findings are vital for understanding the mechanisms of synaptic transmission — and particularly for unraveling the mysteries of neuronal circuits that rely on fast, continuous synaptic transmission.

“It is becoming apparent that the underlying cause of most neuropsychiatric or neurodegenerative diseases is a dysfunction of the synapse,” explained Dr. Samuel Young, one of the researchers. “Identifying what factors are involved in proper synaptic transmission and neural circuit function have tremendous potential as therapies for neurological disorders or brain injury.”

According to Dr. Young, the future goals of this project are “to uncover molecular mechanisms that allow synapses to sustain synaptic transmission over a wide range of activity levels to allow for proper information processing by the neuronal circuit in which they are embedded.”

Or — to make a long research study short — to better understand how the brain’s molecular synapse structure is crucial to human function and well-being. That, in a nutshell, could help neurologists of the future help millions of people suffering from brain injury or trauma.