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Stringent lineage tracing is vital for nerve cell regeneration studies

UT Southwestern stem cell scientists find that stringent lineage tracing is crucial for studies of nerve cell regeneration. Their results, which are published in Cell, show that this tracing is far from routine in the field and suggest that earlier studies reporting "striking" regeneration results must be reexamined.

29 Sep 2021

Small molecule drug can attenuate the triggers of neuroinflammation, preclinical study shows

Neuroinflammation can worsen outcomes in stroke, traumatic brain injury, or spinal cord injury, as well as accelerate neurodegenerative diseases like ALS, Parkinson's, or Alzheimer's. This suggests that limiting neuroinflammation may represent a promising new approach to treat neurological diseases and neuropathic pain that are driven by neuroinflammation.

24 Sep 2021

Scientists reveal the biological process leading to dangerous inflammatory disease in preemies

In a study with mice reported today in the journal Science Translational Medicine, a Johns Hopkins Medicine research team has provided what may be the most definitive view to date of the biological process leading to necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), a dangerous inflammatory disease that can destroy a premature infant's intestinal lining and causes death in up to a third of the cases.

23 Sep 2021

Turning down glial genes can help mitigate Huntington's disease pathogenesis

The brain is not a passive recipient of injury or disease. Research has shown that when neurons die and disrupt the natural flow of information they maintain with other neurons, the brain compensates by redirecting communications through other neuronal networks.

24 Jun 2021

Study creates a new model of Alzheimer's disease progression

Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia and is characterized by neurodegeneration in regions of the brain involved in memory and learning. Amyloid beta and tau are two toxic proteins that build up in disease and cause eventual neuronal death, but little is known about how other cells in the brain react during disease progression.

14 Jun 2021

Researchers discover two new types of glial cells in the brain

Neurons, nerve cells in the brain, are central players in brain function. However, a key role for glia, long considered support cells, is emerging.

14 Jun 2021

Stem cell therapy can repair brain damage and improve memory function in mice

A one-time injection of an experimental stem cell therapy can repair brain damage and improve memory function in mice with conditions that replicate human strokes and dementia, a new UCLA study finds.

21 Apr 2021

Research sheds light on a new neuroprotective mechanism to control damage following brain injury

When the brain suffers injury or infection, glial cells surrounding the affected site act to preserve the brain's sensitive nerve cells and prevent excessive damage.

26 Mar 2021

Star-shaped brain cells impact the length and depth of sleep in mice

For something we spend one-third of our lives doing, we still understand remarkably little about how sleep works -- for example, why can some people sleep deeply through any disturbance, while others regularly toss and turn for hours each night? And why do we all seem to need a different amount of sleep to feel rested?

22 Mar 2021

Researchers reprogram glial cells into new neurons to heal spinal cord injury

Researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine have successfully reprogrammed a glial cell type in the central nervous system into new neurons to promote recovery after spinal cord injury--revealing an untapped potential to leverage the cell for regenerative medicine.

8 Mar 2021

How does SARS-CoV-2 infect brain cells?

Researchers from the University of California San Francisco, Gladstone Institutes in the USA, and The Aga Khan University in Pakistan investigated if human neural cells can be infected by SARS-CoV-2.

20 Jan 2021

Study reveals how loss of protein arginine methyltransferase affects proper brain development

Normal brain development requires a precise interplay between neuronal and non-neuronal (also called glial) cells.

24 Sep 2020

Chaperone-mediated autophagy could be a new therapeutic target for spinocerebellar ataxia

A research team from Kumamoto University, Japan has developed an animal model that reproduces motor dysfunction and cerebellar neurodegeneration similar to that in spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA) by inhibiting chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA) in cerebellar neurons.

23 Sep 2020

New study can advance scientific understanding of the function of astrocytes

New research from Oregon Health & Science University for the first time documents the presence of astrocytes in zebrafish, a milestone that will open new avenues of research into a star-shaped type of glial cell in the brain that is critical for nearly every aspect of brain assembly and function.

9 Sep 2020

Brain estrogen critical for astrocyte activation and neuroprotection

When the brain isn't getting enough oxygen, estrogen produced by neurons in both males and females hyperactivates another brain cell type called astrocytes to step up their usual support and protect brain function.

1 Sep 2020

Researchers to investigate the role of Connexin 26 protein controlled breathing

The protein Connexin 26 has been previously identified as being directly sensitive to Carbon dioxide and linked to conditions such as KIDS syndrome and deafness.

13 Aug 2020

CU researchers discover key role of specific brain cells during development

Researchers at the University of Colorado School of Medicine have identified how specific brain cells interacting during development could be related to neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases, including some that occur later in life.

9 Jul 2020

Scientists receive grant to study cerebrovascular changes during healthy and Alzheimer's aging

Scientists often focus on abnormal accumulations of proteins called plaques in the brain in efforts to find a treatment for Alzheimer's disease. But the effects of these plaques have not been clear.

7 Jul 2020

Experts debate over future Parkinson’s disease trial involving growth factors

Growth factors such as glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) were initially thought to be exciting new treatments for Parkinson's disease (PD), but trials have been disappointing.

5 Jun 2020

A protein critical for wound healing and neural repair following spinal cord injury identified

Plexin-B2, an axon guidance protein in the central nervous system (CNS), plays an important role in wound healing and neural repair following spinal cord injury (SCI), according to research conducted at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and published today in Nature Neuroscience. T

2 Mar 2020