The human brain is a three-pound wonder, capable of amazing things right alongside everyday behaviors so automatic we don’t even notice they’re there. The brain is made up of two kinds of cells. Neurons, which send messages and commands to the rest of the cells of the brain and body, letting us act, think, and plan, and glial cells which maintain our neurons and clean up after them.

For a long time, neurons were considered to be the most important cells in the brain because of their message-sending and receiving capabilities. However, recent evidence suggests that glial cells are more than just housekeepers for the CNS. They also appear to have a role in synaptic plasticity (change in the ways neurons connect to one another, shaped by experience), learning, and memory.

Most of the time the glial and neuronal cells operate outside of our awareness. For example, I am not aware of the individual messages the cells in my brain are sending as I write this, and clean-up by the glial cells typically happens when we’re sleeping. But every once in a while, something goes wrong with one of the systems and our behavior suffers as a result. If you’ve had a loved one suffer from a neurodegenerative disease, you’ve unfortunately seen this up-close and personal.

Researcher Maiken Nedergaard sums up neurodegenerative diseases quite simply. He says that........

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