New Cell Type Discovered in Human Brains

Rosehip neurons are not found in rodents. Perhaps they offer clues about what separates our brains from those of other animals.

Written byCatherine Offord

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ABOVE: Digital reconstruction of a rosehip neuron
TAMAS LAB, UNIVERSITY OF SZEGED

Researchers have discovered a new type of inhibitory neuron present in human, but not mouse, brains. So-called rosehip neurons, described yesterday (August 27) in Nature Neuroscience, have an unusually bushy appearance, express a particular set of human genes not found in mice, and could help provide insights into what distinguishes our brains from those of other animals.

“Finding cell types that are uniquely human . . . helps our understanding of the physiological differences that under[lie] our higher cognitive abilities and may better inform upon treatment strategies for brain-related disorders,” Blue Lake, an assistant project scientist in bioengineering at the University of California, San Diego, who was not part of the study, tells Live Science.

Two research groups—one in Hungary and the other in the USA—independently found the cells during studies of the human brain cortex. They then worked ...

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Meet the Author

Catherine Offord
After undergraduate research with spiders at the University of Oxford and graduate research with ants at Princeton University, Catherine left arthropods and academia to become a science journalist. She has worked in various guises at The Scientist since 2016. As Senior Editor, she wrote articles for the online and print publications, and edited the magazine’s Notebook, Careers, and Bio Business sections. She reports on subjects ranging from cellular and molecular biology to research misconduct and science policy. Find more of her work at her website.
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