Re:Neuroscientists Say They've Found an Entirely New Form of...
by mattkrause on Tuesday February 19, 2019 @10:03PM
(#19205205)
A bit different.
The retinal waves consist of action potentials, which the canonical way that neurons communicate with each other. To do this, the cells form a specialized structure called a synapse: the presynaptic cell releases some neurotransmitter into it, which receptors (sensors) on the its post-synaptic partner detect. Here, the idea is that neurons can communicate, albeit less efficiently, without actually forming a synapse.
As an analogy, synaptic transmission is like plugging your phone into a speaker: there’s a direct, explicit connection. This coupling is more like when a speaker picks up some noise from the cell phone’s modem even though they’re not connected.
The retinal waves consist of action potentials, which the canonical way that neurons communicate with each other. To do this, the cells form a specialized structure called a synapse: the presynaptic cell releases some neurotransmitter into it, which receptors (sensors) on the its post-synaptic partner detect. Here, the idea is that neurons can communicate, albeit less efficiently, without actually forming a synapse.
As an analogy, synaptic transmission is like plugging your phone into a speaker: there’s a direct, explicit connection. This coupling is more like when a speaker picks up some noise from the cell phone’s modem even though they’re not connected.