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Investigators describe process by which apoE4 protein promotes development of Alzheimer's

Despite researchers' best efforts, no drug exists that can slow, halt or reverse the onslaught of Alzheimer's disease. A progressive and fatal neurodegenerative disorder, Alzheimer's has stolen the memories and livelihoods of millions-leaving patients and their families struggling to cope with the disease's devastating consequences. But today, scientists at the Gladstone Institutes propose a new research avenue that has the potential to change all that.

6 Dec 2012

Dendritic spines respond to and process synaptic inputs both chemically and electrically

It's the least understood organ in the human body: the brain, a massive network of electrically excitable neurons, all communicating with one another via receptors on their tree-like dendrites. Somehow these cells work together to enable great feats of human learning and memory. But how?

6 Dec 2012

Scientists develop MitoFish for in vivo studies of mitochondria transport in nerve cells

Scientists have demonstrated a new way to investigate mechanisms at work in Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases, which also could prove useful in the search for effective drugs. For new insights, they turned to the zebrafish, which is transparent in the early stages of its life. The researchers developed a transgenic variety, the "MitoFish," that enables them to see - within individual neurons of living animals - how brain diseases disturb the transport of mitochondria, the power plants of the cell.

6 Dec 2012

Study describes 68 cases of chronic traumatic encephalopathy in athletes, military veterans

A study done by investigators at the Boston University Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy (CSTE) and the Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System, in collaboration with the Sports Legacy Institute (SLI), describes 68 cases of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) among deceased athletes and military veterans whose brain and spinal cords were donated to the VA CSTE Brain Bank.

4 Dec 2012

Lewy pathology out of favor as Parkinson’s culprit

Neurodegeneration and cellular dysfunction may precede the appearance of Lewy bodies in the substantia nigra, shows research that challenges the role of Lewy pathology in Parkinson’s disease.

30 Nov 2012

Scientists identify two genes involved in establishing neuronal circuits required for breathing

Scientists at NYU Langone Medical Center have identified two genes involved in establishing the neuronal circuits required for breathing. They report their findings in a study published in the December issue of Nature Neuroscience.

30 Nov 2012

GM1 ganglioside effectively treats patients with Parkinson's disease

Treating Parkinson's disease patients with the experimental drug GM1 ganglioside improved symptoms and slowed their progression during a two and a half-year trial, Thomas Jefferson University researchers report in a new study published online November 28 in the Journal of the Neurological Sciences.

30 Nov 2012

Engineers develop simple and inexpensive way to create 3-D brain tissues in lab dishes

Borrowing from microfabrication techniques used in the semiconductor industry, MIT and Harvard Medical School (HMS) engineers have developed a simple and inexpensive way to create three-dimensional brain tissues in a lab dish.

30 Nov 2012

Biomarker for ALS progression shows promise

Levels of a neurofilament subunit in cerebral spinal fluid, serum, or plasma may predict disease progression in individuals with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, report researchers.

28 Nov 2012

Hebrew University of Jerusalem develops sonar vision device for congenitally blind people

A "sonar vision" system that enables people who are blind from birth to perceive the shape of a face, a house or even words and letters, is being developed by a team at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

28 Nov 2012

French National Center for Scientific Research scientist wins American Epilepsy Society award

Richard Miles, Ph.D., Research Director, French National Center for Scientific Research, and Group Leader, Cortex and Epilepsy, Institute for the Brain and Spinal Cord, Centre Hospitalier Universtaire Pitie-Salpetriere, Paris, has been named recipient of the prestigious 2012 Epilepsy Research Recognition Award for Basic Science conferred by the American Epilepsy Society (AES).

28 Nov 2012

Max Planck Institute develops neural event-triggered functional magnetic resonance imaging

While in deep dreamless sleep, our hippocampus sends messages to our cortex and changes its plasticity, possibly transferring recently acquired knowledge to long-term memory. But how exactly is this done? Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics have now developed a novel multimodal methodology called "neural event-triggered functional magnetic resonance imaging" (NET-fMRI) and presented the very first results obtained using it in experiments with both anesthetized and awake, behaving monkeys.

22 Nov 2012

IRCM researchers discover a nerve cell's internal clock

A team of IRCM researchers, led by Dr. Fr-d-ric Charron, recently uncovered a nerve cell's internal clock, used during embryonic development.

22 Nov 2012

Crucial link between protein synthesis and autism spectrum disorders

Researchers from McGill University and the University of Montreal have identified a crucial link between protein synthesis and autism spectrum disorders (ASD), which can bolster new therapeutic avenues.

22 Nov 2012

Study sheds light on how neural ensembles form thoughts

One of the biggest puzzles in neuroscience is how our brains encode thoughts, such as perceptions and memories, at the cellular level. Some evidence suggests that ensembles of neurons represent each unique piece of information, but no one knows just what these ensembles look like, or how they form.

22 Nov 2012

New fiber-optic device can deliver light to the brain in 3D

A new tool for neuroscientists delivers a thousand pinpricks of light to a chunk of gray matter smaller than a sugar cube. The new fiber-optic device, created by biologists and engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, is the first tool that can deliver precise points of light to a 3-D section of living brain tissue. The work is a step forward for a relatively new but promising technique that uses gene therapy to turn individual brain cells on and off with light.

19 Nov 2012

ReFIT algorithm improves speed and accuracy of neural prosthetics

When a paralyzed person imagines moving a limb, cells in the part of the brain that controls movement still activate as if trying to make the immobile limb work again. Despite neurological injury or disease that has severed the pathway between brain and muscle, the region where the signals originate remains intact and functional.

19 Nov 2012

Study shows how Parkinson's spreads and leads to nerve cell death

Understanding how any disease progresses is one of the first and most important steps towards finding treatments to stop it. This has been the case for such brain-degenerating conditions as Alzheimer's disease. Now, after several years of incremental study, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania have been able to piece together important steps in how Parkinson's disease (PD) spreads from cell to cell and leads to nerve cell death.

17 Nov 2012

CLR01 effectively inhibits synaptotoxicity in mice with Alzheimer's

Last March, researchers at UCLA reported the development of a molecular compound called CLR01 that prevented toxic proteins associated with Parkinson's disease from binding together and killing the brain's neurons.

16 Nov 2012

New pathway appears to play a major role in information processing in the brain

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have identified a new pathway that appears to play a major role in information processing in the brain. Their research also offers insight into how imbalances in this pathway could contribute to cognitive abnormalities in humans.

16 Nov 2012

Neuron News and Research

Investigators describe process by which apoE4 protein promotes development of Alzheimer's

Dendritic spines respond to and process synaptic inputs both chemically and electrically

Scientists develop MitoFish for in vivo studies of mitochondria transport in nerve cells

Study describes 68 cases of chronic traumatic encephalopathy in athletes, military veterans

Lewy pathology out of favor as Parkinson’s culprit

Scientists identify two genes involved in establishing neuronal circuits required for breathing

GM1 ganglioside effectively treats patients with Parkinson's disease

Engineers develop simple and inexpensive way to create 3-D brain tissues in lab dishes

Biomarker for ALS progression shows promise

Hebrew University of Jerusalem develops sonar vision device for congenitally blind people

French National Center for Scientific Research scientist wins American Epilepsy Society award

Max Planck Institute develops neural event-triggered functional magnetic resonance imaging

IRCM researchers discover a nerve cell's internal clock

Crucial link between protein synthesis and autism spectrum disorders

Study sheds light on how neural ensembles form thoughts

New fiber-optic device can deliver light to the brain in 3D

ReFIT algorithm improves speed and accuracy of neural prosthetics

Study shows how Parkinson's spreads and leads to nerve cell death

CLR01 effectively inhibits synaptotoxicity in mice with Alzheimer's

New pathway appears to play a major role in information processing in the brain

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