Scientists from the Allen Institute in Seattle (USA) and the University of Szeged (Hungary) have discovered a new type of neuron in the brain.

Cells that had never been observed in other laboratory animals, reveals a study published in Nature Neuroscience relayed by Futura.

According to scientists, these are inhibitory neurons, neurons in the cerebral cortex that counterbalance the effects of excitatory neurons.

For the time being, there is no evidence that these are cells specific to humans.

However, they were not found in the brains of rodents.

The shape of these new neurons resembling a bud, they have been called “rose hip neurons”.

A role in certain neurological pathologies?

During the study, the researchers dissected the brains of men in their 50s.

Hungarian scientists studied the shape and electrical functioning of cells while Americans looked at gene expression and discovered a particular genetic signature in these cells.

This discovery will be the starting point for further studies.

The researchers want to study whether these neurons are involved in certain neurological pathologies.

The fact that they have not been observed in mice calls into question the reliability of these animal models for the study of diseases such as Alzheimer's.

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