Brain Cell News and Research

RSS

Cellular 'brakes' may slow memory process in aging brains

University of Florida researchers may have discovered why some brain cells necessary for healthy memory can survive old age or disease, while similar cells hardly a hairsbreadth away die.

10 Dec 2008

Hemichannels - new target to treat epileptic seizures following brain trauma or stroke

New therapies for some forms of epilepsy may soon be possible, thanks to a discovery made by a team of University of British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute neuroscience researchers.

8 Dec 2008

Brain's circuitry survives longer than previously thought in Alzheimer's

Researchers at the Babraham Institute near Cambridge, supported by the Alzheimer's Research Trust and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), have discovered that the brain's circuitry survives longer than previously thought in diseases of ageing such as Alzheimer's disease.

8 Dec 2008

Model unravels rules that govern how genes are switched on and off

For years, scientists have struggled to decipher the genetic instruction book that details where and when the 20,000 genes in a human cell will be turned on or off.

5 Dec 2008

Link found between Alzheimer's disease biomarkers in healthy adults

A study published in the November issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease provides an insight into normal, physiological levels and association between proteins involved in development of Alzheimer's disease.

3 Dec 2008

Discovery of mechanism linking serotonin with regulation of food intake

Genetic mouse models have provided surprising insight into mechanisms linking serotoninergic compounds with the regulation of feeding behavior and body weight.

26 Nov 2008

Researchers discover how brain cells can survive a stroke

Brain researchers at the University of Oslo in Norway have penetrated deeply into the innermost secrets of the brain to find out how brain cells can survive a stroke.

26 Nov 2008

Researchers find clue to safer obesity drugs

Once hailed as a miracle weight-loss drug, Fen-phen was removed from the market more than a decade ago for inducing life-threatening side effects, including heart valve lesions. Scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center are trying to understand how Fen-phen behaves in the brain in order to develop safer anti-obesity drugs with fewer side effects.

25 Nov 2008

Researchers discover how red wine may reduce Alzheimer's

Scientists call it the "French paradox" - a society that, despite consuming food high in cholesterol and saturated fats, has long had low death rates from heart disease.

21 Nov 2008

Marijuana may be good for the aging brain

The more research they do, the more evidence Ohio State University scientists find that specific elements of marijuana can be good for the aging brain by reducing inflammation there and possibly even stimulating the formation of new brain cells.

19 Nov 2008

Scientists gain new insights into regulation of calpains

Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have gained new insights into regulation of one of the body's enzyme workhorses called calpains.

19 Nov 2008

Neuralstem enters stem cell collaboration for Huntington's disease in Germany

Neuralstem, Inc. announced today that it has entered into a collaboration with Professor Guido Nikkah Ph.D, of Albert-Ludwigs-University in Freiburg, Germany, to advance development of Neuralstem's human neural stem cell therapies.

18 Nov 2008

Accera to launch Axona, medical food product for Alzheimer's in 2009

Accera, Inc. will launch Axona in the United States for Alzheimer's disease (AD) in the first quarter of 2009.

18 Nov 2008

Exercise increases brain growth factor and receptors, prevents stem cell drop in middle age

A new study confirms that exercise can reverse the age-related decline in the production of neural stem cells in the hippocampus of the mouse brain, and suggests that this happens because exercise restores a brain chemical which promotes the production and maturation of new stem cells.

18 Nov 2008

A link found between nicotine addiction and autism

Scientists have identified a relationship between two proteins in the brain that has links to both nicotine addiction and autism.

17 Nov 2008

New evidence on how proteins help cells fix broken DNA

Aucott et al. report the first in vivo experiments on the heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1) family, which sidles up to silent DNA.

17 Nov 2008

Glucocorticoids may cause damage in the brain

A class of drugs that are used in premature infants to treat chronic lung damage can cause damage in the brain.

17 Nov 2008

Cooling brain prevents cell death in young mice exposed to anesthesia

New research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests cooling the brain may prevent the death of nerve cells that has been observed in infant mice exposed to anesthesia.

17 Nov 2008

Seniors with sharp brains reveal first secrets of sharp memory in old age

Maybe you have an 85-year-old grandfather who still whips through the newspaper crossword puzzle every morning or a 94-year-old aunt who never forgets a name or a face.

16 Nov 2008

New research reveals key steps in HIV's assault on the brain

Scientists have unraveled in unprecedented detail the cascade of events that go wrong in brain cells affected by HIV, a virus whose assault on the nervous system continues unabated despite antiviral medications that can keep the virus at bay for years in the rest of the body.

16 Nov 2008