The Institute for Basic Science (IBS) announced on the 10th that a research team led by Chang-Jin Lee, Director of the Center for Cognition and Sociality, and Research Fellow Sung-Ho Hong has identified the mechanism by which star-shaped non-neuronal cells called astrocytes enable complex and precise movements in the cerebellum.

This study is the first multidisciplinary astrocyte research that combines AI-based data analysis, computational modeling, and neuroscience experiments. It is expected to be expanded and applied not only to treatments for movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, but also to the fields of robotics, physical AI, and artificial neural networks.

More than 70% of all neurons in the brain are concentrated in the cerebellum, and most of these are granule cells. Cerebellar granule cells are continuously inhibited by gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), an inhibitory neurotransmitter, which regulates their activity and enables stable information processing. The researchers hypothesized that the manner in which inhibitory signals are regulated would change with development, and verified this by integrating electrophysiology, large-scale computer simulations, and AI-based behavioral analysis.

When the team compared and analyzed cerebellar granule cells in young mice (3–4 weeks old) and adult mice (8–12 weeks old), they found that in young mice, GABA released from inhibitory neurons was mainly responsible for tonic inhibition. In contrast, in adult mice, astrocytes took the lead in inhibition by directly supplying GABA through a channel called bestrophin-1.

Based on this, the team revealed that while tonic inhibition in early developmental stages is neuron-centered, it shifts during maturation to a co-regulation system between neurons and non-neuronal cells (astrocytes). To examine how this transition affects neural circuit function, the researchers constructed a “large-scale cerebellar neural circuit computational model” including about 1 million neurons. Simulation results confirmed that, as the central axis of tonic inhibition control shifts from neurons to astrocytes, interference between granule cells responsible for movements of different body parts is reduced, allowing these cells to process information more independently.

Director Lee stated, “This study newly reveals the importance of interactions between neurons and astrocytes in brain development, which has traditionally been understood only from a neuron-centered perspective,” adding, “It is expected to be widely used not only in research on developmental and degenerative motor control disorders, but also in the development of brain-inspired motor control technologies for robots and physical AI.” The research results were published in Experimental & Molecular Medicine, a sister journal of the international journal Nature.

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