Detection of neurons 'GPS' of bats

Israeli scientists have found a new neuron on bats, and this may be the cell that determines the ability to determine the angle and distance between them to a certain location.

A study published in the journal Nature recently revealed that bats have a special nerve cell that helps the bat determine the angle, space and distance between them and the location and location. easy.

Although scientists know about nerve cells that help animals navigate in space, or even navigate and move their heads. In that test was done on mice, but for bats, everything seems to be very different because they move in space and the bat system of bats is much more complicated than The animals move underground.

Bats have a special nerve cell that can help determine the angle, space . easily.

In an experiment, the Israeli scientific group led by Nachum Ulanovsky, from the Weizmann Institute of Rehovot, Israel, placed bananas in the middle of a room and released bats that specialized in fruit-eating in Egypt. . The head of the bat is also attached to a sensor that keeps track of nerve cells as they move through the room.

Scientists were surprised to find that some neurons were stimulated and signaled continuously when the bat found the right approach to food, even the signal became stronger when the bat arrived. get food.

The experiments were repeated later, but the scientists hid the bananas behind a translucent veil, using techniques to deflect sound waves and prevent the aroma of bananas. Even so, the bat still found bananas. However, with this experiment, the team found the core problem.

This nerve cell is a training product of memory and it does not react directly to stimuli.

When bats fly away in search of food in this experiment, it is still the neurons in the previous experiment that emitted an irritating signal. That means that these neurons are training products of memory, and it does not react directly to stimuli. Neurons that play a role are found in the hippocampus brain (hippocampus - a part of the front brain and the structure inside the temporal lobe), one of the most studied parts of the brain. the set.

This research has partly enriched the understanding of scientists in particular and people in general about how the brain can navigate a subject when it moves.

Orientation is an activity that has a lot to do with memory.

The location of hippocampus-oriented neurons and experimenting with bats has shown that orientation is an activity that has a lot to do with memory. This contributes to clarifying why people with Alzheimer's dementia often go astray, when the disease often has a great impact on the patient's memory.

This is a small, interesting discovery but will certainly make a big impact on modern medicine in the future.