Glial Control of Neuronal Networks and Receptors

Abstract

Our experimental findings which showed the glial origin of the retinal S-potentials and their behavior were for the first time presented and discussed at this symposium. The conference, concerning the same subject, given by Svaetichin (October 26, 1960) at Washington, stimulated his old friend and colleague Robert Galambos to write a paper concerning „a glia-neural theory of brain function“ [Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 47,129 —136 (1961)]. This exciting article is a much better introduction to our work than anything we could have written ourselves, since it emphasizes the problem faced by the conventional „millisecond“ neurophysiology and the neuron theory when trying to explain complex functions of our nervous system, as for instance sleep, alertness, learning, memory, inborn instinctive behavior, etc., and also gives a historical review of earlier thought, suggesting an important role for the glia in brain function. Anatomical and biochemical studies (Nansen, Holmgren, Kornmüller, Hydén, Sjöstrand, De Robertis, G. Villegas and others) suggest the existence of interactions between the neuron and the glia; however, our studies directly demonstrate that the glial cells exert a metabolic excitability control on the neurons. Actually, all investigations on the S-potentials which have been carried out since 1953 are studies on the functional mechanisms of the glial cells, although this had not been realized before we definitely localized the recording site of the micro-electrode to individual Müller fibers and (glial) horizontal cells of the Teleost retina. Thus, there already exists considerable information concerning the physiological aspects of the glia-neuron interaction.

*Department of Physiology, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Cientificas, Caracas, Venezuela