Science Has Missed Half The Brain

A cover article in the April 2004 edition of Scientific American explains how "science has missed half the brain." Researchers have long known that the brain contains two types of cells, neurons and glia. In the brain gilal cells outnumber nerve cells 9 to 1, however scientists have always held them to be relatively insignificant. They theorized that they were realitivly inactive support cells for the nerves. Recently, however, researchers have discovered that gilal cells indeed do play a large role in how the brain works and new technologies have allowed scientists to see just how important these cells are to brain function. The study of glial cells is an exciting new frontier of neuroscience, and may hold the key to understanding brain function and dysfunction. Scientists predict that perhaps the causes of M.S. could be derieved from this study, and it is interesting to ponder that fact that the scientists who studied Albert Einstien's brain found an average number of nerve cells, but a great deal more glial cells than normal. Fasinating! But wait! Weren't we told that scientists understood the brain. And that because they understood the brain, they could create treatments for brain disorders like depresssion, anxiety and schizophrenia ? All of the psychoactive drugs now used to treat mental disorders are designed to target the neurons. SSRI's target the neurotransmitter serotonin. Anti-Psychotics target production of the neurotransmitter dopamine. What if the true cause of schizophrenia is found in the glial cells? What if depression has nothing to do with neurotransmission? Just a case in point that science is a work in progress. If researchers can't fully understand how the brain works, they should not reccomend how to fix it. I could not find a free link to this article but you can check out the abstract here.