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Neuronal Communication

Neuronal Communication

Neurons, the fundamental units of the brain and nervous system, communicate through complex electrochemical signals that underpin all cognitive and bodily functions. This communication is primarily facilitated by a process involving the generation and propagation of an action potential along the axon of the neuron. When the internal electrical charge of a neuron surpasses a certain threshold, an action potential is triggered. This rapid change in voltage travels swiftly along the axon to the...

Neurons as Communicators of the Brain

Neurons as Communicators of the Brain

Neurons, the fundamental units of the brain and nervous system, function as the primary transmitters of information throughout the body. Their ability to communicate through electrical and chemical signals is vital for every bodily function, from regulating the heartbeat to processing complex thoughts. Each neuron has three main components: the cell body (soma), dendrites, and an axon, each specialized to facilitate swift and efficient neural communication.
Cell Body
The cell body, also known...

Electrical Synapses

Electrical Synapses

Electrical synapses found in all nervous systems play important and unique roles. In these synapses, the presynaptic and postsynaptic membranes are very close together (3.5 nm) and are actually physically connected by channel proteins forming gap junctions.
Gap junctions allow the current to pass directly from one cell to the next. In contrast, in the chemical synapse, the neurotransmitters carry the information through the synaptic cleft from one neuron to the next. They consist of two...

The Synapse

The Synapse

Neurons communicate with one another by passing on their electrical signals to other neurons. A synapse is the location where two neurons meet to exchange signals. At the synapse, the neuron that sends the signal is called the presynaptic cell, while the neuron that receives the message is called the postsynaptic cell. Note that most neurons can be both presynaptic and postsynaptic, as they both transmit and receive information.

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Aug 12, 2025

Using R, Seurat, and CellChat to Analyze a Single-Cell Transcriptomics Dataset of Mouse Skin Wound Healing

Using R, Seurat, and CellChat to Analyze a Single-Cell Transcriptomics Dataset of Mouse Skin Wound Healing

Published on: August 1, 2025

Inferring neuron-neuron communications from single-cell transcriptomics through NeuronChat.

Wei Zhao¹, Kevin G Johnston¹, Honglei Ren¹

¹Department of Mathematics and the NSF-Simons Center for Multiscale Cell Fate Research, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697.

Biorxiv : the Preprint Server for Biology

|January 30, 2023

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

NeuronChat infers neural communication networks from single-cell expression data. This tool visualizes cell-cell interactions and analyzes communication patterns in healthy and diseased brain tissues.

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Computational Biology
Genomics

Background:

Neural communication networks are essential for brain function, relying on ligand-receptor interactions.
Understanding these networks requires analyzing the transcriptome, particularly single-cell expression data.

Approach:

Developed NeuronChat, a computational method and package for inferring neural-specific communication networks.
Integrated a manually curated molecular interaction database for human and mouse neural signaling.
Validated NeuronChat using multiple published datasets and spatial transcriptomics data.

Key Points:

NeuronChat enables inference, visualization, and analysis of neural communication networks.
Identifies conserved and context-specific interactions across biological contexts.
Predicts communication pattern changes in neurological disorders like autism spectrum disorder.

Conclusions:

NeuronChat provides a robust framework for dissecting neural communication from single-cell and spatial transcriptomics data.
Facilitates the study of neural connectivity and its alterations in disease states.