Scientists have mapped the comprehensive brain structure of the fruit fly, a subject of many previous studies.

According to The New York Times, scientists examined the brain structure of the fruit fly in this new study.

In doing so, scientists shed light on the connectivity pattern of an entire fruit fly brain, which will revolutionize the field of neuroscience and lead to new discoveries on how the brain generates behaviors.

WITH 140 THOUSAND NEURONS

While previous studies reported around 3,000 neurons in fruit fly brains, scientists in this study revealed that a fruit fly’s brain, smaller than a poppy seed, contains approximately 140,000 neurons with connections spanning about 50 meters.

The study has already borne fruit, as scientists discovered “interrogative” neurons believed to combine different types of information, and “broadcasters” that send signals to coordinate activity between different neural circuits.

NERVE CIRCUIT CAUSING PAUSING WHILE WALKING

Furthermore, scientists identified a specific nerve circuit that causes fruit flies to pause when triggered while walking. Neurobiologist Mala Murthy at Princeton University, who assisted in conducting the study, stated that this fruit fly brain map “demonstrated the first complete map of any complex brain.”

Additionally, researchers note that mapping and analyzing the fruit fly brain could serve as a guide for research on other species, including humans with 86 billion neurons in their brains. The study’s findings were published in the journal “Nature.”