Scientists from Northwestern University have observed that how a fruit fly's brain reacts to hot and cold temperature, which has implications for understanding the way more complex human brain and how it replies to sensory stimuli.
Marco Gallio, who led the research is an assistant professor of neurobiology in Northwestern's Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences said, "The brain is a beautiful machine, and one of the new frontiers in biology is to understand how it works.""The fruit fly is a fantastic model in which to study how the brain controls behavior, and it can help us understand how sensory circuits work in humans."
Scientists have found several neural pathways that send information about temperature from the antenna and meet in three central areas in the brain.Majority of neurons react to temperature change either hot or cold instead of their accuracy.These neurons help the animals to realize abrupt temperature change.Neuron which reacts to both types of temperature hot or cold is known as third kind of neuron.This neuron helps the fly to get danger signal about temperature.
"Humans are more resilient than flies in reacting to temperature change," Gallio said, "but the principles we are finding in the fly brain—the logic and organization—likely are the same in both. Whether human or fly, the sensory systems have to solve the same problems, so they often do it in the same ways."
Gallio added some more lines, "we decided to focus on temperature as one of the most fundamental sensory modalities.""Much like in the fly antenna, the sensory neurons in our skin respond to either hot or cold temperature. The brain knows what the hand feels by simply keeping track of which cell type is active—what we call a 'labeled line' system."
During the study they utilized a photolabeling technique to discover the connections that send temperature information to the brain.They discovered that signals meet at three regions which are the Mushroom Body and the Lateral Horn and the third one isthe Posterior Lateral Protocerebrum.
Then they used vivo imaging process to find the thermosensory projection neurons activated by either hot or cold stimuli have narrow tuned and those react to both hot and cold have broadly tuned.
Gallio and his team were confused and unable to unstand about different paths of brain after researching."We found there was an elegant answer," Gallio said. "Some neurons respond to only hot, some neurons respond to only cold, and some neurons respond to both hot and cold. They all converge in the brain, where all the messages are orchestrated into a cohesive response."
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