By Sara Goudarzi LiveScience Staff Writer posted: 27 February 2007 03:26 pm ET
The inner
workings of the brain aren’t as
organized as once thought. According to a new study, it’s mayhem up there.
It’s long
been believed that information is passed on from one neuron
to another at junctions where two neurons, or a neuron and a muscle, meet.
Neurons are nervous system cells that process and relay information.
At the
junction of two neurons, also known as a synapse,
one neuron releases a chemical messenger—neurotransmitter—to excite the other
neuron. This is done by diffusing the neurotransmitter to the branches (dendrites)
of the transmitting neuron.
The new
study purports that neurons don’t just release these chemicals at synapses but
along the entire span of their extensions, all the while exciting neighboring cells.
clipped from: www.livescience.com 
