title: Intrinsic activity in cells and the brain.
abstract: Motile cells such as bacteria, amoebae, and fibroblasts display a continual level of energy-consuming reactions involving the cytoskeleton and signal pathways, regardless of whether or not they are actually migrating. I draw parallels between these "silent signals" and the intrinsic activity of the human brain, especially that associated with the brain stem. In both cases, it can be argued that the organism continually rehearses possible future actions, so it can act quickly and accurately when suitable cues are received from the environment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3DY, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Dennis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bray
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D002465:Cell Movement; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology; D004023:Dictyostelium / Q000502:physiology*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000502:physiology*; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008124:Locomotion / Q000502:physiology*