Neurons are not the only brain cells that think | The Economist

September 4, 2023

astrocyte

https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2023/01/23/neurons-are-not-the-only-brain-cells-that-think

QT:{{”
Autism is one. In 2017 Ishizuka Kanako of the Nagoya Institute of Technology, in Japan, found a link between an increased risk of autism and the presence of a pair of genetic variants known to disrupt, in microglia, the expression of a protein called cx3cr1. And in 2020 Xu Zhixiang of Scripps Research, in San Diego, showed a range of microglial protein-synthesis problems cause autism-like symptoms in mice.

Many researchers now talk of “tripartite” synapses as being standard in the brain. Their transistor-like three-element composition has one part (the astrocyte) which acts like a transistor’s “base” connection, regulating the passage of signals between the other two (the neurons, the equivalents of a transistor’s “emitter” and “collector”). Since transistors form the logic gates of computers, that is intriguing. “}}