Yale Researchers image a dying brain neuron for the first time

Using a new system they call “2Phatal”, scientists were able to capture the video of a dying brain & the mess being cleaned up

In an effort to better understand the secrets behind aging and various neurological disorders, scientists at the Yale School of Medicine embarked on a research to study the complex interactions between dying neurons and the glial cells in the central nervous system that are responsible for clearing dead cells and related debris from the brain.

An average human body consists of tens of billions of cells and all of them undergo a natural process of dying. Even more important, though, is the process by which these deceased cells are cleaned up from the system. For the first time ever, researchers were able to image the disposal of the biological waste created by dying neurons in the brain.

Efficient removal of dead cells is necessary to prevent a build-up of dead cells that can damage the nervous system and cause degenerative diseases. Although this process of “corpse removal” takes place on a daily basis, during the growth & development of a brain, the availability of limited tools to observe this has been the biggest challenge — primarily because the timing and location of cell…