An important function of pons and medulla is the autonomous control of the body’s vital functions. These nerves are involved in control of the motoric functions. Medulla receives inputs from pyramidal tracts originating from the cerebral cortex. Pons facilitates connections between medulla and cerebellum, as well as into the thalamus. Hox genes orchestrate the segmented organization of spinal cord, pons and medulla and are not expressed in other parts of the brain. The pons and medulla developmentally originate from the third vesicle of neural tube. It is a region of transition between central and peripheral nervous system, containing cell nuclei of majority of cranial nerves from which they are emerging to the spinal cord.
Next up: humans, which Chen says researchers hope to study "very soon.Pons and medulla oblongata together with midbrain and thalamus are part of the brainstem, which is located in the posterior part of the brain. He says the team has since used MRS to study energy demands of a cat's brain, which they said also jumped when the kitty was visually stimulated. Chen says there must be enough energy to maintain a proper ionic balance inside and outside cells if too many get stuck inside, it can cause swelling, which can damage cells and lead to strokes and other conditions. ATP supplies the energy required for these ions to traverse cell membranes. Charged sodium, calcium and potassium atoms (or ions) are continuously passed through the membranes of cells, so that neurons can recharge to fire. "Housekeeping power is important for keeping the brain tissue alive," Chen says, "and for the many biological processes in the brain," in addition to neuronal chats. He speculates that only a third of the ATP produced in fully awake brains is used for housekeeping functions, leaving the rest for other activities. The team noted that when the lab rats were knocked out, they produced 50 percent fewer ATP molecules than when they were mildly anesthetized.The ATP produced when the brain is inactive, says Chen, seems to go mostly toward cell maintenance, whereas the additional ATP found in the more alert animals fueled other brain functions. Sure enough, ATP levels appeared to vary with brain activity. Their goal: to determine whether ATP production is linked to brain activity by measuring the energy expended during different levels of consciousness. MRS employs a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine programmed to pick up particular elements in the body-in this case, the three phosphorus atoms in each ATP molecule. Chen says the technology, which has been around for three decades and is used to track the products of metabolism in different tissues, could prove instrumental one day in detecting brain defects or to diagnose tumors or precursors of neurodegenerative diseases (such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's) early.Ĭhen and his colleagues used MRS specifically to track the rate of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production, the primary source of cellular energy, in rat brains. Researchers reached their conclusions after imaging the brain with magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) to measure its energy production during activity shifts. The remaining third, however, is used for what study co-author Wei Chen, a radiologist at the University of Minnesota Medical School, refers to as "housekeeping," or cell-health maintenance. Turns out, though, that is only part of the story.Ī new study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA indicates that two thirds of the brain's energy budget is used to help neurons or nerve cells "fire'' or send signals. Until now, most scientists believed that it used the bulk of that energy to fuel electrical impulses that neurons employ to communicate with one another. It is well established that the brain uses more energy than any other human organ, accounting for up to 20 percent of the body's total haul.