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MIT neuroscientists find a way to reverse noise hypersensitivity in mice

People with autism often experience hypersensitivity to noise and other sensory input. MIT neuroscientists have now identified two brain circuits that help tune out distracting sensory information, and they have found a way to reverse noise hypersensitivity in mice by boosting the activity of those circuits.

23 Oct 2019

Polymerized estrogen can protect nervous system cells and promote regeneration

Spinal cord damage that causes paralysis and reduced mobility doesn't always stop with the initial trauma, but there are few treatment options to halt increased deterioration -- and there is no cure.

23 Oct 2019

Link between pregnancy stress, immune activation, and postpartum depression

A new study presented at the Society for Neuroscience meeting on October 19, 2019, at Chicago, shows for the first time how postpartum depression could actually be due to abnormal immune system activation within the brain, which in turn is set off by chronic pregnancy stress. This is the earliest study to show this link in animals.

22 Oct 2019

New study identifies gene that causes intellectual disability syndrome

It used to take several years or sometimes decades to unequivocally identify the genes that cause rare human syndromes that affect very few individuals. Nowadays, however, human geneticists and fly and mouse biologists have the means to work together to integrate their data, which has significantly accelerated the pace of disease and gene discovery.

22 Oct 2019

Link found between unique brain cells and OCD, anxiety

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 1 in 3 people experience debilitating anxiety - the kind that prevents someone from going about their normal life.

22 Oct 2019

Q-Suite Motor Assessment Tool helps detect subtle motor abnormalities in children

In clinical trials of adults with Huntington's disease (HD) the Q-Suite Motor Assessment Tool (Q-Motor) has proven to be helpful to detect and quantitate subtle motor abnormalities.

22 Oct 2019

Study uncovers brain biology behind postpartum depression

Chronic stress during pregnancy triggers an immune response in the brain that has potential to alter brain functions in ways that could contribute to postpartum depression, new research in animals suggests.

22 Oct 2019

Researchers elucidate properties of blood factor involved in weight loss and aging

Aging is a process that affects all functions of the human body, particularly brain function. However, aging can be delayed through lifestyle changes (physical exercise, restricting calorie intake, etc.).

22 Oct 2019

Taste neurons could be controlling feeding behaviour find researchers

Researchers from the University of California, Riverside used a common fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) to find the association between taste neurons and control of feeding behaviours. They noted that if they genetically modulated these flies, they could make them selectively avoid certain chemicals including acids, bitter compounds, salty substances etc. The results of their study appeared in the October issue of the journal Cell Reports.

22 Oct 2019

Long-term exposure to toxic chemicals in the environment impairs brain function in mice

Human-made toxic chemicals that linger indefinitely in the environment disrupt the performance of critical helper cells in the mouse brain, leading to impaired function over long-term exposures, say neuroscientists at Georgetown University Medical Center.

22 Oct 2019

Columbia researchers capture new detailed images of a temperature-sensing molecule

Columbia University researchers have captured new detailed images of a temperature-sensing molecule in its open, intermediate, and closed states.

21 Oct 2019

Research shows brain's immune system gets activated by stress during pregnancy

21 Oct 2019

Fasting may increase motivation for exercise by surging "hunger hormone" ghrelin

Researchers have found that when mice are provided with limited access to food, the levels of food and satiety hormone ghrelin rises. This causes increase in motivation to exercise. This may translate to more exercise motivation for humans on intermittent fasting say the researchers.

21 Oct 2019

Immune cells rewire, repair brain while we sleep, study shows

Science tells us that a lot of good things happen in our brains while we sleep - learning and memories are consolidated and waste is removed, among other things.

21 Oct 2019

Haptoglobin binds hemoglobin that causes brain damage after cerebral hemorrhage

Patients who survive a cerebral hemorrhage may suffer delayed severe brain damage caused by free hemoglobin, which comes from red blood cells and damages neurons. Researchers at the University of Zurich and the UniversityHospital Zurich have now discovered a protective protein in the body called haptoglobin, which prevents this effect.

21 Oct 2019

Patterns unique to the striatum observed in people with Huntington's disease

The part of the brain that selectively degenerates in people with Huntington's disease (HD), called the striatum, is almost entirely destroyed in the late stages of the disease. Brain samples from mutant HD gene positive individuals who had not yet developed symptoms by time of death are extremely rare. As a consequence, very little is known about the active disease process that causes the devastating symptoms of HD.

21 Oct 2019

SciLifeLab and AstraZeneca establish cryo-EM collaboration to advance biomedicine

The study published in Science Advances reveals the mechanism by which the receptor tyrosine kinase RET can increase neuronal survival in degenerative diseases. To understand the mechanism of this signaling complex, the researchers solved the cryo-EM structure of its extracellular region, employing a new approach for data collection.

21 Oct 2019

Salk scientists receive NIH funding to map brain circuitry for movement

A team of Salk scientists led by Professor Martyn Goulding has been awarded $14.3 million over five years by the National Institutes of Health to create a high-resolution atlas of how the mouse brain generates and controls skilled forelimb movements, such as reaching and grasping.

18 Oct 2019

New NIH BRAIN Initiative awards accelerate the pace of neuroscience research

Scientists have been developing astounding new tools for exploring neural circuits that underlie brain function throughout the first five years of the National Institutes of Health's Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies Initiative.

18 Oct 2019

Scientists show how our memories stabilize while we sleep

Scientists at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Biology have shown that delta waves emitted while we sleep are not generalized periods of silence during which the cortex rests, as has been described for decades in the scientific literature.

18 Oct 2019