The chemical and electrical transmission of information between nerve cells has been known for decades. The problem with using the knowledge was that no one could see the activity in real time. Aurélie Pala and Carl Petersen from the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale De Lausanne in Switzerland are the first to see and measure nerve transmission in a living animal.
The researchers used optogenetics to genetically alter the nerve cells in a mouse brain that respond to the movement of the mouse’s whiskers. Optogenetics involves the insertion of a single light-sensitive gene on to the external surface of a neuron. The gene can be activated by a specific frequency of light that causes the neuron to fire like it would from normal stimulation.
Connector neurons called interneurons prevent the transmission of a chemical or an electrical signal throughout any particular region of the brain or the entire brain. The researchers used two-photon microscopy to see the differences that different interneurons produced when the nerve cell that controlled whisker movement was acted on by blue light. The scientists could see and measure the differences in electrical signal.
The objective of the research was to prove that nerve transmissions could be seen. The technique is applicable to humans without being detrimental but at present it is invasive. The scientists expect to use the new tool to decipher the nerve impulses that control and generate speech, memory, and thought. The application to mental and physical disease promises to be extraordinary.
The same technique could be used theoretically to control thought. The possibility to control thought in masses of people is remote due to the intricacies of the technique. However, when the technique is refined to a simplistic level someone is bound to try mind control in humans.
