Teach the Brain Forums

March 17, 2006

Good Morning,

The time is ripe to take a closer look at the glial cell(s). We have in the past looked at this cell who has a 10 to 1 ratio to the neuron respectively as a supporter of the neuron...cleans up debris etc. We know that the glial cells help greatly in the remyelination of the axon of the neuron and that they [glial cells] do communicate with one another. (Columbia University].

A close look at the glial cells in the central nervous system and that of the PN.....show many similarities and differences. The glial cells are also attacked with disease and cannot remyelinate the axons thus leaving the disease attacked neuron vulnerable to disease that destroys the myelin along the axon and virtually stops the action potential and obviates the neurotransmitter completion of synaptic potential, meaning that the needed chemicals do not reach the post synaptic receptors....Sometimes known as MS.

I am attending a conference at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in July which will cover glial development, genetic analysis of glial function,myelinating cells, astroctye function at synapses and blood vessels, axon- glial interactions, reactive gliosis and CNS regenerative failure, glia and disease and new approaches to understanding glia.

I will share this with all of you who might be interested.
URL retrieve from the internet on March 17, 2006....please read and look and the contrast between a healthy myelin and axon and communcation to a deleterious attach on of the myelin thus causing obviation of communications.
URL: http://www.myelin.org/
This is very exciting to me....be well;remember
Rob

March 18, 2006

Good morning,

Retrieved from the internet today regarding important uses of glial cells.....more yet to come however.....URL: http://www.siumed.edu/~dking2/ssb/neuron.htm#glia
Best,
Rob

March 21, 2006

Good Morning

The glial cell gets no respect as a famous actor might have said...Yet the glial cells in the brain have at least a 10 to 1 ratio on neurons. The past and present sees the glial cell supporting the neuron by cleaning up the neurons waste and generally looking after the neuron...But we are finding that the glial cell has more important roles than we first thought.....the neuron could not live without the glial cells. Communication could stop or be frozen without the glial cells. Retrieved from the internet this date is a very comical url: http://staff.washington.edu/chudler/glia.html

See what you think.....this is just the beginning of the glial cell...
Best,
Rob

March 23, 2006

Good Morning,

Astrocytes are glial cells......so are others...take a look at what they do in the brain. Retrieved from the internet today.
URL: http://apu.sfn.org/content/Publications/...cytes.html
Best,
Rob

March 23, 2006

Good Afternoon,

We will be hear a great deal in the months and years to come regarding the functions of the glial cells....this of course is at the prior knowledge level so here we go.....URL retrieved today from the internet. URL: http://www.mind-graph.net/foundations/bi...l/glia.htm
Best,
Rob

March 23, 2006

Good Afternoon,

Interesting article from Scientific America, Jan. 2001 found on the internet this day.

Some 90 percent of the cells in your noggin are not neurons but glia—brain cells that until now were credited with the organ's most unglamorous work. Indeed, scientists guessed that glia served only as scaffolding for the more important neurons or that perhaps they collected garbage molecules from synapses, the channels over which neurons communicate. A paper in the January 26th issue of Science, however, reveals that glial cells called astrocytes actually control the number of synapses neurons can form with each other. So, far from playing a supporting role, glia may in fact actively participate in learning and memory.

Ben Barres and his colleagues at Stanford University expected more from glia starting in 1997, when they discovered that neurons grown with astrocytes in culture are 10 times more active than neurons grown alone. What they didn't know was whether the increased activity resulted from more synapses or increased efficiency at the synapses. This time they performed a number of tests on neurons called retinal ganglion cells, finding that they, too, were seven times more responsive to an array of stimuli when they were grown near glia. And by way of staining and imaging, they were also able to conclude that glia-exposed retinal ganglion cells featured seven times as many synapses.

"In summary, these results show that the total number of synapses on a neuron is not an intrinsic property of that neuron, but can be profoundly regulated by extrinsic signals," the authors write. "In the absence of glia, neurons in culture have only a limited ability to form synapses. Astrocytes greatly increase the number of structurally mature, functional synapses and are necessary to maintain synaptic stability." --Kristin Leutwyler

segarama Wrote:March 23, 2006

Good Afternoon,

Interesting article from Scientific America, Jan. 2001 found on the internet this day.

Some 90 percent of the cells in your noggin are not neurons but glia—brain cells that until now were credited with the organ's most unglamorous work. Indeed, scientists guessed that glia served only as scaffolding for the more important neurons or that perhaps they collected garbage molecules from synapses, the channels over which neurons communicate. A paper in the January 26th issue of Science, however, reveals that glial cells called astrocytes actually control the number of synapses neurons can form with each other. So, far from playing a supporting role, glia may in fact actively participate in learning and memory.

Ben Barres and his colleagues at Stanford University expected more from glia starting in 1997, when they discovered that neurons grown with astrocytes in culture are 10 times more active than neurons grown alone. What they didn't know was whether the increased activity resulted from more synapses or increased efficiency at the synapses. This time they performed a number of tests on neurons called retinal ganglion cells, finding that they, too, were seven times more responsive to an array of stimuli when they were grown near glia. And by way of staining and imaging, they were also able to conclude that glia-exposed retinal ganglion cells featured seven times as many synapses.

"In summary, these results show that the total number of synapses on a neuron is not an intrinsic property of that neuron, but can be profoundly regulated by extrinsic signals," the authors write. "In the absence of glia, neurons in culture have only a limited ability to form synapses. Astrocytes greatly increase the number of structurally mature, functional synapses and are necessary to maintain synaptic stability." --Kristin Leutwyler

Reminder this is the glial cell that is not suppose to do much....

March 25, 2006

Good morning,


Please take a look at this url retrieved today. It shows an olio cell (glial) myelination a neuron's axon...in the CNS. Reasearch on glial cells has really increased especially since there is now proof on communications. The glial cell outnumbers the neuron by a ratio of 10 to 1 and most like even more so.
You really might be amazed at the relationship between the two cells.

Url: http://members.tripod.com/blustein/Oligo...ocytes.htm

Best ,
Rob

March 28, 2006

Good Morning

Interesting story told by Dr. Marian Diamond regard the brain cells of Einstein....Glial....too.....retrieved from the internet today.
URL: http://www.newhorizons.org/neuro/diamond_einstein.htm
Be well,
Rob

March 28, 2006

Good morning

Glial reveals self....url from net today.
Best, Rob
Url: Glia: The Forgotten Brain Cell



The brain is made up of more than just nerve cells (neurons). Although there are about 100 billion neurons in the brain, there are about 10 to 50 times that many glial cells in the brain. But do you hear much about glia? NO! Because neurons get all the attention, you don't hear too much about glia. Although glia cells DO NOT carry nerve impulses (action potentials) they do have many important functions. In fact, without glia, the neurons would not work properly!


Types and Functions of Glia
Name of Glial Cell Function
Astrocyte
(Astroglia) Star-shaped cells that provide physical and nutritional support for neurons: 1) clean up brain "debris"; 2) transport nutrients to neurons; 3) hold neurons in place; 4) digest parts of dead neurons; 5) regulate content of extracellular space
Microglia Like astrocytes, microglia digest parts of dead neurons.
Oligodendroglia Provide the insulation (myelin) to neurons in the central nervous system.
Satellite Cells Physical support to neurons in the peripheral nervous system.
Schwann Cells Provide the insulation (myelin) to neurons in the peripheral nervous system.



There are a few ways in which glia cells are different from neurons:

Neurons have TWO "processes" called axons and dendrites....glial cells have only ONE.
Neurons CAN generate action potentials...glial cells CANNOT. However, glial cells do have a resting potential.
Neurons HAVE synapses that use neurotransmitters...glial cells do NOT have chemical synapses.
There are many MORE (10-50 times more) glial cells in the brain compared to the number of neurons.






Hear IT! "Astrocyte" "Glia" "Microglia"
"Neuron" "Oligodendroglia" "Schwann cells"



More about glia:


Astrocytes and Neurogenesis - from Neuroscience for Kids
Lowly glia strengthens brain cells
Microglia Home Page
New Knowledge of Neural Neighbors

March 29, 2006

Good Morning,
We are getting closer every day to finding out the answer to MS. Url retrieved today from the internet show how the autoimmune system can turn on it's...in this case microgilia......
Best,
Rob Url: http://www.biopsychology.com/index.php?d...h&x=13&y=6

April 8, 2006

Good Morning,

This might be a good time to take a closer look at the cells in the nervous system[s]. Retrieve today from the internet:
Best,
Rob
UrL: http://www.neurosci.pharm.utoledo.edu/MB...neuron.htm

April 8, 2006

Good Morning,

Is MS a autoimmune disease? What happens? Well if MS is an autoimmune disease then the immune system falters and the cells attacked themselves along with foreign substances that are usually killed by the immune system. You see in the case of the immune system the glial cells and schwann cells help fight disease....but when the autoimmune system causes a serious problem then the oligodendrytes that myelinates the axon of the neuron is destroyed along with the myelin that is supplied by the oligodendryte in the CNS and the Schwann cell in the PNS[myelination].
This is research that really is under intense study.
Best,
Rob

April 10, 2006
Good Morning,

I returned from a meeting whereby the professional staff did not think that the glial cell was important enough to even discuss [as a brain cell]. It is really hard to believe.

Soon I will be attending a seminar specifically on the glial cell and health...at the Cold Springs Harbor Laboratory on Long Island. I wonder the difference in thinking in just a few months from glial cells lack of importance [attitute] to a complete seminar bringing in top flight professionals from all over the world.
The information for the Cold Springs Harbor Seminar url: http://meetings.cshl.edu/meetings/glia06.shtml
Best,
Rob

April 20, 2006
Good Morning,

I believe that we are looking at a cell [glial] that has been left alone for decades with the assumption that it really does not do much except support neurons in the mammalian brain. The human brain is reported to have at least a ratio of 10 to 1 glial cell / neurons and some studies report higher ratios.

The Cold Springs Harbor Laboratory meeting on glial cells shortly will be most interesting to watch since there will most likely be quite an interest in this once forgotten brain cell.

Dr. Barres (MD) from Stanford University will be having a great deal to do with this week long meeting. His lab at Stanford University cites the following: Sciences, Professor of Developmental Biology Our lab is interested in the neuronal-glial interactions that underlie the development and function of the mammlian central nervous system

Rob

June 13, 2006

Good morning

One cannot just mention neurons any longer without discussing glial cells. We are finding the the glial cell is much too involved with the neuron and the synapses along with a plethora of other things to keep it silent. I just received the Journal GLIA ISSN 0894-1491 Vol. 53, Number 8, June, 2006 as a sample. It is very difficult reading and understanding for me so.....it tells me that my prior learning is really only fair in this area eventhough I have been able to stay up with the latest research. I will spend sometime on the Journal today inorder to see just how many years of the hard sciences I missed or did not learn in depth.

I must say that it does keep you right up to date if you can read it. I feel that I missed quite a bit along the way...however as my wife Sandy said...do I really need that depth at this point in my career. [refering to Glial cells].
Be well,
Rob

June 29, 2006

Good Evening ,

Glial cells are getting our attention. Retrieved from the internet today from the internet. Url: http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v8/n...n1498.html
Best,
Rob

June 2, 2006

Good evening
Continued study on the glial cell and running it through other neuro-biological material tends to give a great deal of credence to further success in steps toward curing neurodegenerative diseases. Stem cells are also being discovered in this cell..the type of stem cell that at first glance is a match for some amelioration of movement disorders.
Retrieved from the internet today: URL: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-b...2/ABSTRACT
Be well,
Rob

segarama Wrote:June 2, 2006

Good evening
Continued study on the glial cell and running it through other neuro-biological material tends to give a great deal of credence to further success in steps toward curing neurodegenerative diseases. Stem cells are also being discovered in this cell..the type of stem cell that at first glance is a match for some amelioration of movement disorders.
Retrieved from the internet today: URL: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-b...2/ABSTRACT
Be well,
Rob

_______________________________
July 9, 2006
Good Evening

It is very important that all students of science and education become acquainted with the glial cell. It has be in the shaddows of the neuron for many years....It still is....however...neuroscienctists must keep a steady course when dealing with educators who sometimes dismiss ideas very quickly and very very rudely. If you believe in something as I do the propective research of the Glial cell then stick with it.....it is fun to be alone with your own opinion....Retrieved from the internet today....
Please read about the glial cell....
URL: http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs....tb07478.x
Bye,
Rob