Cell structure previously associated with disease actually improves brain function

Researchers at McGill University have shown that a brain cell structure previously thought to be pathological in fact enhances cells' ability to transmit information and correlates with better learning on certain tasks. In a study published , the team investigated swellings that occur in the axons of Purkinje cells in the cerebellum. In results that contradict established expectations, they found that axons with swellings did a better job of conducting electrical signals than those without. "These are the kind of results where you really scratch your head and think, 'Let's check that again'," says senior author Alanna Watt, an Associate Professor in the Department of Biology. "We really thought when we started this that we were going to characterize and measure how an axon fails - and that's not at all what we saw." - Experimental data confounds expectations . Swellings in axons - the long, slender fibres through which nerve cells transmit information to other cells - are observed in normal development and in disease. Increased numbers of axonal swellings are seen in various neurodegenerative disorders, which has led scientists to believe swellings have a negative impact on axon function.