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Canadian researchers shed light on molecular dynamics of chronic pain

Chronic pain affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide and is a major cause of disability, causing more disability than cancer and heart disease. Canadian researchers, including Michael Salter at SickKids are shedding light on the molecular dynamics of chronic pain. They have uncovered a critical role for a class of cells present in the brain and spinal cord, called microglia, in pain.

27 May 2015

Immune system plays surprising role in the progression of Rett syndrome

New research by investigators at the University of Massachusetts Medical School suggests the immune system plays an unsuspected and surprising role in the progression of Rett syndrome, a severe neurological disorder affecting children. Immune cells known as macrophages are unable to perform their normal function and are instead amplifying the disease.

11 May 2015

UVA research identifies new role of immune system in Rett syndrome

The immune system is designed to protect us from disease. But what if it was malfunctioning? Would it make a disease worse? That appears to be the case with Rett syndrome, a neurodevelopmental disorder, and possibly in other neurological disorders as well, new research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine has found.

22 Apr 2015

Peripheral inflammatory cells play role in Parkinson's disease

A small area in the midbrain known as the substantia nigra is the control center for all bodily movement. Increasing loss of dopamine-generating neurons in this part of the brain therefore leads to the main symptoms of Parkinson's disease - slowness of movement, rigidity and shaking.

3 Apr 2015

Mesenchymal stem cell transplantation reduces opioid tolerance, opioid-induced pain

Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) transplantation reduced opioid tolerance and opioid-induced hyperalgesia caused by daily morphine injections in rats, according to new research.

25 Mar 2015

Deuterium-containing sigma-1 agonist demonstrates anti-seizure, anti-inflammatory effects in TBI model

Research results published in the Journal of Neurotrauma and conducted by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) as part of a collaboration with Concert Pharmaceuticals, Inc. showed that a novel deuterium-containing sigma-1 agonist invented at Concert, called C-10068, demonstrated anti-seizure and anti-inflammatory effects in a preclinical model of traumatic brain injury (TBI).

24 Mar 2015

Keystone meeting focuses on neuroinflammation, Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases

As Alzheimer's disease sweeps through the brain, do the brain's immune cells sit idly by and let it happen? Or could they overreact and make the disease worse?

23 Mar 2015

Researchers discover new cause to explain development of temporal lobe epilepsy

Epilepsy is a very prevalent neurological disorder. Approximately one-third of patients are resistant to currently available therapies. A team of researchers under the guidance of the Institute of Cellular Neurosciences at the University of Bonn has discovered a new cause to explain the development of temporal lobe epilepsy: At an early stage, astrocytes are uncoupled from each other.

19 Mar 2015

Non-invasive ultrasound technology can treat Alzheimer's disease, restore memory

Queensland scientists have found that non-invasive ultrasound technology can be used to treat Alzheimer's disease and restore memory.

13 Mar 2015

Researchers present new findings about 'key players' involved in brain inflammation

Inflammatory processes occur in the brain in conjunction with stroke and neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Researchers from Lund University and Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, in close cooperation with a group led by Professor José L. Venero at the University of Seville, have presented new findings about some of the 'key players' in inflammation.

6 Mar 2015

TREM2 protein may help slow progression of multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease

Highlighting a potential target in the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) and Alzheimer's disease, new research suggests that triggering a protein found on the surface of brain cells may help slow the progression of these and other neurological diseases.

3 Mar 2015

Toning down TREM2 receptor's activity may help prevent neurodegeneration in AD patients

Tackling brain inflammation ameliorates Alzheimer's disease (AD), according to a study published in The Journal of Experimental Medicine.

3 Mar 2015

TUSM researchers awarded $7.4 million to study brain impairment in patients infected with HIV

Researchers at Temple University School of Medicine have been awarded a $7.4 million, five-year grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to determine how cocaine and HIV-1 interact to cause brain impairment in patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus.

11 Feb 2015

Researchers document pathological progress of multiple sclerosis

The Centre for Brain Research at the MedUni Vienna is regarded as a world leader in researching the mechanisms involved with multiple sclerosis (MS). Now, in a paper published in the highly respected journal Lancet Neurology, an international team of researchers from Edinburgh, Cleveland and Vienna, under the leadership of Hans Lassmann, Head of the Department of Neuroimmunology at the MedUni Vienna, has for the first time documented the pathological progress of the disease from its early to late stage and also shown that inflammatory and neurodegenerative processes have a role to play.

9 Feb 2015

New compound may lead to development of potential therapeutics for neuropathic pain

A new compound discovered by a team of UC Davis investigators has potent actions against production of a chemical that which is implicated in the development of chronic pain following a peripheral nerve injury in the spinal cord.

7 Feb 2015

Brain inflammation linked to clinical depression

A new study by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health found that the measure of brain inflammation in people who were experiencing clinical depression was increased by 30 per cent. The findings, published today in JAMA Psychiatry, have important implications for developing new treatments for depression.

28 Jan 2015

New study finds that immune cells in the brain may contribute to obesity

Immune cells perform a previously unsuspected role in the brain that may contribute to obesity, according to a new study by UC San Francisco researchers.

14 Dec 2014

Johns Hopkins study shows gene expression in autism brains

While many different combinations of genetic traits can cause autism, brains affected by autism share a pattern of ramped-up immune responses, an analysis of data from autopsied human brains reveals. The study, a collaborative effort between Johns Hopkins and the University of Alabama at Birmingham, included data from 72 autism and control brains.

11 Dec 2014

New research sheds light on future efforts to eradicate HIV from the body in human patients

Where does HIV hide? Antiretroviral drugs can usually control the virus, but can't completely eliminate it. So any strategy to eradicate HIV from the body has to take into account not only the main group of immune cells the virus targets, called CD4 or helper T cells, but other infected cells as well.

3 Nov 2014

Alzheimer's disease report success in harnessing mouse's immune system to attack toxic proteins

Alzheimer's disease experts at NYU Langone Medical Center and elsewhere are reporting success in specifically harnessing a mouse's immune system to attack and remove the buildup of toxic proteins in the brain that are markers of the deadly neurodegenerative disease.

9 Sep 2014