Cell-by-cell sodium mapping reveals astrocytes are far less uniform than believed

The element sodium plays a key role in nervous system function. An international research team headed by the Institute of Neurobiology at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) has now conducted a closer examination of the sodium concentration in astrocytes—special cells in the brain. To achieve this, the researchers developed a method via which they can make the sodium content of individual cells in tissue directly visible, as they now describe in the journal Nature Communications.