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Researchers discover rhythmic changes in synapse numbers regulate sleep cycles

With the help of tiny, see-through fish, Stanford University School of Medicine researchers are homing in on what happens in the brain while you sleep. In a new study, they show how the circadian clock and sleep affect the scope of neuron-to-neuron connections in a particular region of the brain, and they identified a gene that appears to regulate the number of these connections, called synapses.

8 Oct 2010

Researchers reveal neural responses associated with empathy for others' pain

Witnessing a person from our own group or an outsider suffer pain causes neural responses in two very different regions of the brain. And, the specific region activated reveals whether or not we will help the person in need. Researchers at the University of Zurich studied the brain responses of soccer fans and now have neurobiological evidence for why we are most willing to help members of our own group.

8 Oct 2010

Blind people can use visual cortex to refine sensation: Study

People who have been blind from birth make use of the visual parts of their brain to refine their sensation of sound and touch, according to an international team of researchers led by neuroscientists at Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC).

7 Oct 2010

Microglial inflammation promotes MAPT pathologies

Cells that help to protect the central nervous system may also contribute to pathological changes in the brain. New research, published by Cell Press in the October 7th issue of the journal Neuron, provides mechanistic insight into a link between the immune system and neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's disease that are associated with abnormal accumulation of tau protein.

7 Oct 2010

New hope for patients with brain injury

New neuroscience research by life scientists from UCLA and Australia may potentially help people who have lost their ability to remember due to brain injury or disease.

6 Oct 2010

NIH to award $64M under Transformative Research Projects program

The National Institutes of Health will award up to $64 million over five years to encourage exploration of exceptionally innovative and original research ideas that have the potential for extraordinary impact.

4 Oct 2010

Scientists discover c-Abl protein role in Parkinson's disease progression

Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered that the over-activation of a single protein may shut down the brain-protecting effects of a molecule and facilitate the most common form of Parkinson's disease.

4 Oct 2010

Study indicates neurotransmitters are abnormal in people with psychotic illness

There is growing evidence that two neurotransmitters - dopamine and glutamate - are abnormal in people with psychotic illness, including schizophrenia. Among many other things, these chemicals play a role in cognitive functions, such as memory, learning, and problem-solving.

1 Oct 2010

Universitat Jaume I evaluates ruthenium compounds for neurodegenerative disease treatment

The pharmaceutical division of the company Neuron BPh and the research group of Organometallic Chemistry and Homogeneous Catalysis of the Universitat Jaume I, have evaluated the possible applications of a series of ruthenium compounds for their future use in the treatment of neurodegenerative disease such as Alzheimer.

30 Sep 2010

Study suggests drugs targeting glutamatergic transmission may help treat psychotic illness

There is growing evidence that two neurotransmitters dopamine and glutamate are abnormal in people with psychotic illness, including schizophrenia. Among many other things, these chemicals play a role in cognitive functions, such as memory, learning, and problem solving.

30 Sep 2010

Researchers receive NIH award to investigate regenerative potential of retinal cells

Zhang and co-principal investigators Sheng Ding, PhD, from The Scripps Research Institute, and Thomas Reh, PhD from the University of Washington, received the highest possible scores for their proposal to investigate the regenerative potential of retinal cells. Their long-term goal is to restore visual function lost through diseases such as macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa.

30 Sep 2010

Neurons that control sexual behavior mapped

How the bundles of neurons in the brain controls behaviour remains an ongoing mystery. Researchers from the Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP), in Vienna, Austria, and the Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB/MRC), Cambridge, United Kingdom, have mapped neurons of the fruit fly, Drosophila, that controls sexual behavior. "We literally untangled the mess of wires in the fly brain and laid the ground plans for investigating a complex behavior in a simple organism," says Jai Yu, whose doctoral work is published in Current Biology.

29 Sep 2010

New computational model provides mathematical description of interactions between cortical neurons

The appearance of a spot of light on the retina causes sudden activation of millions of neurons in the brain within tenths of milliseconds. At the first cortical processing stage, the primary visual cortex, each neuron thereby receives thousands of inputs from both close neighbors and further distant neurons, and also sends-out an equal amount of output to others.

28 Sep 2010

Scientists uncover alternative source for damage associated with MS

Scientists have uncovered an alternative source for some of the damage associated with multiple sclerosis, an incurable neuroinflammatory disorder. The research, published online by Cell Press on September 23rd in the journal Immunity, reveals a direct interaction between immune cells and neurons that plays a significant role in neuronal injury and may respond to therapeutic intervention.

24 Sep 2010

Immune-mediated disturbances of neurons contribute to MS: Research

Researchers in Germany have gained new insight into how the immune system causes damage associated with multiple sclerosis (MS), an incurable neuroinflammatory disorder.

24 Sep 2010

New study signals hope for treatment of rare neurodegenerative disease

A new study led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists signals hope for treatment of a neurodegenerative disease and a new model for understanding the mechanism at work in other more common neurodegenerative disorders.

23 Sep 2010

Researchers reveal Prozac reactions to increase serotonin level

The response time to antidepressants, such as Prozac, is around three weeks. The adaptation mechanisms of the neurons to antidepressants has, until now, remained enigmatic. In particular, the researchers have revealed, for the first time, a sequence of reactions caused by Prozac at the neuron level, which contributes to an increase in the amounts of serotonin, a chemical "messenger" essential to the brain, and deficient in depressive individuals.

17 Sep 2010

Structural component inside neurons dances when connections are strengthened

Scientists at Emory University School of Medicine have uncovered how a structural component inside neurons performs two coordinated dance moves when the connections between neurons are strengthened.

14 Sep 2010

Researchers develop KU-32 drug to prevent diabetic peripheral neuropathy

A drug developed at the University of Kansas has the potential to stop a debilitating condition of diabetes that often leads to pain in the extremities and even amputations, KU researchers have found.

13 Sep 2010

New neurological deficit behind amblyopia

Researchers at New York University's Center for Neural Science have identified a new neurological deficit behind amblyopia, or "lazy eye." Their findings, which appear in the most recent issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, shed additional light on how amblyopia results from disrupted links between the brain and normal visual processing.

10 Sep 2010