Calcium channels in higher-level brain function. Editorial comment on: Gamma-band deficiency and abnormal thalamocortical activity in P/Q-type channel mutant mice.

LLINAS RR; SOONWOOK C; URBANO FJ; SHIN H.-S.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

NATL ACAD SCIENCES

Lugar: Washington, DC 20001; Año: 2007 vol. 104 p. 17903 - 17904

0027-8424

Nature has a habit of using relatively simple cellular mechanisms in the service of the higher-level integrative functions of multicellular organ systems. In the article by Llinás et al., published in a recent issue of PNAS, we can see an example of how a mechanism that probably evolved for maintaining the integrity of the excitable membranes of nerve, heart, glandular, and muscle cells, when placed in the context of a highly interconnected network of neurons, is recruited as a fundamental component of brain mechanisms that underlie states of consciousness and that are also involved in those of perception and cognition.