Ganglion News and Research

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In anatomy, a ganglion (plural ''ganglia'') is a biological tissue mass, most commonly a mass of nerve cell bodies. Cells found in a ganglion are called ganglion cells, though this term is also sometimes used to refer specifically to retinal ganglion cells.

Devastating liver disease itching turns out to have a surprising cause

A devastating itching of the skin driven by severe liver disease turns out to have a surprising cause. Its discovery points toward possible new therapies for itching, and shows that the outer layer of the skin is so much more than insulation.

5 Apr 2021

Retinal implants can give blind people a form of artificial vision

Being able to make blind people see again sounds like the stuff of miracles or even science fiction. And it has always been one of the biggest challenges for scientists. Diego Ghezzi, who holds the Medtronic Chair in Neuroengineering (LNE) at EPFL's School of Engineering, has made this issue a research focus.

5 Mar 2021

New sensory neuron model enables easy generation of cells to fast-track pain research

Scientists have for the first time established a sensory neuron model able to mass-reproduce two key sensory neuron types involved in pain sensation, enabling the easy generation of large numbers of the cells to fast-track chronic pain research.

21 Jan 2021

Study shows how the brain’s circuitry arises spontaneously to process visual information

Researchers have explained how the regularly structured topographic maps in the visual cortex of the brain could arise spontaneously to efficiently process visual information.

17 Jan 2021

Researchers create a molecular catalog that describes different types of neurons

Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) are the bottleneck through which all visual impressions flow from the retina to the brain. A team from the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, University of California Berkeley and Harvard University created a molecular catalog that describes the different types of these neurons.

24 Dec 2020

Zika infection affects fetal retinal development during pregnancy but not after birth

While the SARS-CoV-2 virus has dominated the news this past year, researchers continue to study the health effects of the Zika virus, which has been reported in 86 countries globally.

18 Dec 2020

Study offers new clues to the pathogenesis of glaucoma

In the search for new ways to treat the incurable eye disease glaucoma, researchers at Karolinska Institutet and St. Erik Eye Hospital in Sweden have discovered more clues as to its pathogenesis.

15 Dec 2020

New clue to protect neurons and encourage their growth found

Many neurodegenerative conditions, from glaucoma to Alzheimer's disease, are characterized by injury to axons -; the long, slender projections that conduct electrical impulses from one nerve cell to another, facilitating cellular communications. Injury to axons often leads to neuronal impairment and cell death.

14 Dec 2020

Scientists use gene therapy to regenerate damaged optic nerve fibers

Scientists have used gene therapy to regenerate damaged nerve fibers in the eye, in a discovery that could aid the development of new treatments for glaucoma, one of the leading causes of blindness worldwide.

5 Nov 2020

Protein tenascin-C plays a role in glaucoma by regulating inflammatory processes

Researchers at Ruhr-Universität Bochum have studied the role of the immune response in the development of glaucoma in mice.

29 Oct 2020

Study: Localization of neurons is adapted to successful hunting sequence in zebrafish

Spotting, pursuing and catching prey - for many animals this is an essential task for survival. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology now show in zebrafish that the localization of neurons in the midbrain is adapted to a successful hunting sequence.

20 Oct 2020

Researchers discover gene that may help the body sense a full urinary bladder

In a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded study involving both mice and patients who are part of an NIH Clinical Center trial, researchers discovered that a gene, called PIEZO2, may be responsible for the powerful urge to urinate that we normally feel several times a day. The

19 Oct 2020

SARS-CoV-2 spike protein may induce analgesia

A recent study published in the journal Pain in October 2020 adds another piece to the puzzle, showing that the virus is capable of dulling pain pathways. This may contribute to its early and extensive spread.

7 Oct 2020

Study shows how Cisplatin chemotherapy leads to neuronal apoptosis

Despite the great advances in cancer research in recent years, treatments that can cause very severe adverse effects are still used. This is the case of neuropathy caused by chemotherapy with platinum derivatives, such as Cisplatin and Oxaliplatin.

30 Sep 2020

Study reveals how people with retinal degenerative disease can maintain night vision

New insight on how people with retinal degenerative disease can maintain their night vision for a relatively long period of time has been published today in the open-access eLife journal.

22 Sep 2020

AAV gene therapy often leads to dorsal root ganglion pathology, show studies

A meta-analysis of non-human primate (NHP) studies showed that adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene therapy often caused dorsal root ganglion (DRG) pathology.

3 Sep 2020

A new method for mechanical stimulation of neural cells

In addition to responding to electrical and chemical stimuli, many of the body's neural cells can also respond to mechanical effects, such as pressure or vibration.

20 Jul 2020

Researchers use human stem cell models to analyze degeneration in glaucoma

More than 3 million Americans have glaucoma, a serious eye condition causing vision loss. Using human stem cell models, researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine found they could analyze deficits within cells damaged by glaucoma, with the potential to use this information to develop new strategies to slow the disease process.

11 Jun 2020

New potential treatment candidate identified for early type 2 diabetic retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy is one of the main vascular complications of type 2 diabetes, and the most common cause of visual deterioration in adults.

27 Apr 2020

Understanding early visual processing steps could have implications for schizophrenia, ADHD

Researchers at the National Eye Institute (NEI) have defined a crucial window of time that mice need to key in on visual events.

8 Apr 2020