Scientists have finally been able to predict how nerve fibres actually navigate growth, by using a clever mathematical trick where they grew in smartest way possible.
An international team, led by Queensland University, has carefully measured how the guidance of nerve fibres from rat brains changed as the cues directing their growth varied, and showed these changes could be accurately predicted using a mathematical model.
According to the scientists, these results could be important for understanding how brain wiring can go wrong during development and how to help brain connections regenerate after injury.
"Getting the wiring right is absolutely critical for brains to function properly. The mathematical model now allows us to predict what will happen in any situation, not just the ones we've already measured," team leader Geoff Goodhill said.
Most interestingly, this model assumed nerve fibres make decisions in the cleverest possible way. "This means that individual nerve fibres can be incredibly smart in the way they sift through information in their environment to decide where to grow," Goodhill said.
The team, whose findings are published in the latest edition of 'Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences', is now working on how nerve fibres turn their smart decisions into smart actions.
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