http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/57202/

New findings are challenging the current understanding of how non-neural brain cells contribute to brain signaling, by showing that calcium levels in these cells do not affect synaptic activity.

In the past couple of years, the idea that these non-neural brain cells, known as glial cells, participate in neurotransmission "had been widely accepted," Frank Kirchhoff, a cellular and molecular neurobiologist at the Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine, who did not participate in the research, wrote in an email to The Scientist. "Therefore, the scientific community was rather surprised to see" that calcium levels in glial cells have no affect on neurotransmission in the hippocampus, added Kirchhoff.

For decades, scientists believed that astrocytes -- the major glial cells of the central nervous system -- only served nutritional and structural support to neurons. But over the past ten years, evidence has surfaced suggesting that astrocytes play a more active role in synaptic communication, with increases in intracellular calcium levels in astrocytes triggering the release of gliotransmitters -

Read more: Brain cells' new role defunct? - The Scientist - Magazine of the Life Sciences http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/57202/#ixzz0hEzcVkUT