New technique opens window into how brain cells communicate

WASHINGTON (AP) — The brain’s nerve cells communicate by firing messages to each other through junctions called synapses, and problems with those connections are linked to disorders like Alzheimer’s and epilepsy. Now Yale University researchers have developed a way to picture synapses in living brains.
The technique, using PET scans, is highly experimental but it raises the possibility of one day monitoring synapse function in some common diseases.
A healthy human brain harbors