Retrograde endocannabinoid signaling at inhibitory synapses in vivo. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38422134/)

These scientists wanted to understand how the brain works when mice are moving around. They were curious about a special chemical called endocannabinoid (eCB) that might be involved in how the brain controls movement. They thought that this chemical might help to turn off some signals in the brain that tell the body to stop moving.

To study this, the scientists watched the mice as they moved along a straight path. They used special tools to see what was happening in the mice's brains while they were moving. They found that the eCB chemical was being used in specific parts of the brain that help the mice know where they are.

The scientists saw that when the brain cells were active, the eCB chemical was released and it helped to stop some signals in the brain that tell the body to slow down or stop moving. They also found that when they removed a specific part of the brain that responds to this eCB chemical, the mice had trouble knowing where they were.

Overall, the scientists discovered that this eCB chemical helps the brain control movement by turning off some signals that tell the body to stop moving. This happens very quickly, in just a few seconds, while the mice are moving around.

Dudok B., Fan LZ., Farrell JS., Malhotra S., Homidan J., Kim DK., Wenardy C., Ramakrishnan C., Li Y., Deisseroth K., Soltesz I. Retrograde endocannabinoid signaling at inhibitory synapses in vivo. Science. 2024 Mar;383(6686):967-970. doi: 10.1126/science.adk3863. Epub 2024 Feb 29.