Axons Revealed as Pearl-String Cables, Upending Century-Old Neuroscience
Johns Hopkins researchers report axons may be pearl-like strings rather than smooth tubes, a pattern seen in mouse, worm, and human neurons and persisting in normal tissue. The beads are about 250 nm with 70 nm connectors, influenced by membrane stiffness and cholesterol, and can speed or slow signal transmission. This challenges a century of textbook axon structure and is supported by advanced imaging and living-brain tissue studies, suggesting membrane physics plays a key role in brain signaling.
