Have you ever been curious about how the nerves in the brain operate? Scientists have also wondered the same thing, and for the first time, the entire process of how a living being's central nervous system works has been captured and recorded in a series of images in real time.
Scientists, led by Philipp Keller at Howard Hughes Medical Institute, used a technique called light-sheet microscopy to study the brain activity of a fruit fly larva. The experts also manipulated the larva's nerves to light up when it's active. As it crawled around, the scientists observed its brain cells while everything was recorded on video.
The images were taken five times in a second on high resolution so that it would be easy to see single neurons activating. The whole process lasted for an hour.
"We are curious to see neural activity as behaviors are being produced," said Keller, according to The Guardian. "By imaging different parts of the nervous system at the same time, we can see how behaviors are controlled and then build models of how it all works."
Previous researchers have already done a similar activity using a transparent zebrafish larva in 2013. However, this most recent study made use of a species that is not transparent. Thus, imaging was expected to be more challenging.
Their work is laying the ground for further studies involving larger non-transparent organisms. In fact, Keller in his team are set to look into the brain activity of mouse embryos, adult flies and zebrafish next.
"It is becoming increasingly clear that to understand how neuronal networks function, it is important to measure neuronal network activity at the system level," the researchers wrote in their paper, according to NBC News.
The findings were published in the journal Nature Communications.
Watch the video of the central nervous system activity below.
