#bymoon

                        Cells constitute a positioning system in the Brain

      The Noble Prize is a set of annual international awards bestowed in a number of categories by Swedish and Norwegian institutions in recognition of academic, cultural, and scientific advances. The Noble Prize is outstanding contributions for humanity in chemistry, physics, literature, economics, peace, physiolody, and medicine. However, I impress a Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology most because it is about discovering many interesting things in the life. Especially, the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is about cells constitute a positioning system in the brain of Dr.John O'Keefe, Dr.May-Britt Moser, and Dr.Edvard I. Moser.

      Their research was chosen to be awarded the Noble Prize in 2014 because “Cells constitute a positioning system in the Brain” is an excellent piece of research Historically, scientists and philosophers have questioned the ability to perceive space and find the way of brains and the question remains “ Map that is presented in the brain look like?”. Their discoveries is about nerve cells in the brain that enable a sense of place and navigation. These findings are ground breaking and provide insights into how the functions of the spirit is expressed in the brain and how the brain can calculate the complex cognitive functions and behavior. The work of the 2014, laureates help us to know more information and understand of these functions. John O'Keefe discovered place cells in the hippocampus, indicating the location and provide the brain with spatial memory capacity. May-Britt Moser and Edvard I. Moser discovered in the medial entorhinal cortex, a region of the brain next to hippocampus, grid cells that provide the brain with an internal coordinate system essential for navigation. Together, the hippocampal place cells and the entorhinal grid cells form interconnected nerve cell networks that are critical for the computation of spatial maps and navigational tasks. The work by John O’Keefe, May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser has dramatically changed our understanding of how fundamental cognitive functions are performed by neural circuits in the brain and shed new light onto how spatial memory might be created.

      Two important things of their discovery are place cells and gird cells. They experimented on a rat. First, I will say about place cells. Place cells are neurons in the hippocampus that fire when the animal occupies a specific location within its environment.   As different place cells have different place fields that are locations where they fire, they are thought to provide a cognitive map for the rat. Therefore, John O’Keefe, May-Britt Moser and Edvard Morser made a experiment and took results to show about place cells - after an initial exposure of 10 min, rats recognise an environment after a delay of 3 h, but less so after 6 h and 24 h. Longer initial explosure (3 x 10 min) leads to longer lasting memory. Surprisingly, this memory by place cells in CA1 does not appear to depend on synaptic plasticity in the dorsal presubiculum. Second, I will say about grid cells. Grid Cells were discovered roughly 30 years later in the laboratory of Edvard and May-Britt Moser in Trondheim, Norway1. Grid cells are found in the entorhinal cortex, a region on the posterior wall of the rat’s cerebral hemisphere. In the figure to the right, the entorhinal cortex is depicted in yellow. This is a lateral view; viewed from the back EC is larger and pancake-shaped.

      Thanks to brain imaging techniques and image study of patients undergoing neurosurgery, science has demonstrated "cellular positioning" and "network cells" actually exist in humans.  In patients with Alzheimer's disease, the hippocampus and the cortex inside the nasal cavity often affected in the early stages, making them often disoriented and unable to recognize their surroundings.  Therefore, knowledge of the positioning system (GPS) brain helps us understand the mechanisms that cause the loss of spatial awareness in patients.  In addition, this discovery also creates shifts in the theory of cognitive performance such as memory, thinking of humans.

      In the conclusion, I really like this topic because the scientists experimented ater showed their "place cells" and "grid cells" have the ability to locate and navigate. I feel about the place and the ability to locate vital for human existence and this gives us an idea of ​​the location in the surroundings. Discover of the three scientists have solved the problem that philosophers and scientists for centuries questions, which is how the brain can generate a map of the space around us and  how we can navigate the path in a complex environment.

Work Cited

https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2014/press.html

http://www.academia-net.org/news/nobel-prize-for-may-britt-moser/1311621