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ORMOSIL nanoparticles show promise as potential drug delivery vehicle

In the images of fruit flies, clusters of neurons are all lit up, forming a brightly glowing network of highways within the brain. It's exactly what University at Buffalo researcher Shermali Gunawardena was hoping to see: It meant that ORMOSIL, a novel class of nanoparticles, had successfully penetrated the insects' brains. And even after long-term exposure, the cells and the flies themselves remained unharmed.

10 Jan 2012

Novel class of nanoparticles hold promise as a potential vehicle for drug delivery

In the images of fruit flies, clusters of neurons are all lit up, forming a brightly glowing network of highways within the brain. It’s exactly what University at Buffalo researcher Shermali Gunawardena was hoping to see: It meant that ORMOSIL, a novel class of nanoparticles, had successfully penetrated the insects’ brains. And even after long-term exposure, the cells and the flies themselves remained unharmed.

9 Jan 2012

New way to awaken paternal Ube3a allele linked with Angelman syndrome

Results of a new study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill may help pave the way to a treatment for a neurogenetic disorder often misdiagnosed as cerebral palsy or autism.

22 Dec 2011

Scientists understand how nervous system becomes wired during early development

Thanks to a new study of the retina, scientists at UC Santa Barbara have developed a greater understanding of how the nervous system becomes wired during early development.

7 Dec 2011

Researchers discover a factor in synapse-building and pruning

Like a gardener who stakes some plants and weeds out others, the brain is constantly building networks of synapses, while pruning out redundant or unneeded synapses. Researchers at The Jackson Laboratory led by Assistant Professor Zhong-wei Zhang, Ph.D., have discovered a factor in synapse-building, also showing that the building and pruning processes occur independent of each other.

17 Nov 2011

New computer chip models how neurons communicate with each other at synapses

For decades, scientists have dreamed of building computer systems that could replicate the human brain's talent for learning new tasks. MIT researchers have now taken a major step toward that goal by designing a computer chip that mimics how the brain's neurons adapt in response to new information. This phenomenon, known as plasticity, is believed to underlie many brain functions, including learning and memory.

16 Nov 2011

Daily intake of Souvenaid improves memory in people with mild AD

A second clinical trial of the medical food Souvenaid confirmed that daily intake of the nutritional intervention improves memory in people with mild Alzheimer's disease.

5 Nov 2011

Researchers identify FMRP protein as key player in RNA editing

The most common form of heritable cognitive impairment is Fragile X Syndrome, caused by mutation or malfunction of the FMR1 gene. Loss of FMR1 function is also the most common genetic cause of autism. Understanding how this gene works is vital to finding new treatments to help Fragile X patients and others.

31 Oct 2011

OPHN1 protein mediates mGluR-dependent longterm depression at synapses

Scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) have solved part of a puzzle concerning the relationship between changes in the strength of synapses - the tiny gaps across which nerve cells in the brain communicate - and dysfunctions in neural circuits that have been linked with drug addiction, mental retardation and other cognitive disorders.

20 Oct 2011

Muscle cannot be functionally reactivated if you're too late

When a motor nerve is severely damaged, people rarely recover full muscle strength and function. Neuroscientists from Children's Hospital Boston, combining patient data with observations in a mouse model, now show why. It's not that motor nerve fibers don't regrow – they can – but they don't grow fast enough. By the time they get to the muscle fibers, they can no longer communicate with them.

4 Oct 2011

UCLA neuro-physicists discover optimal brain rhythm for changing synaptic strength

The brain learns through changes in the strength of its synapses -- the connections between neurons -- in response to stimuli. Now, in a discovery that challenges conventional wisdom on the brain mechanisms of learning, UCLA neuro-physicists have found there is an optimal brain "rhythm," or frequency, for changing synaptic strength. And further, like stations on a radio dial, each synapse is tuned to a different optimal frequency for learning.

4 Oct 2011

La Jolla Institute scientist identifies previously unknown T cell interaction

Most of the time, the immune system is the body's protector, warding off invading viruses and bacteria before they can lead to infection and disease. But in autoimmune diseases, the immune system does an about face, turning on the body and attacking normal cells.

3 Oct 2011

FDA approves NeuRx Diaphragm Pacing System to treat ALS

An electronic system that stimulates the nerve of the diaphragm muscles has received approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

30 Sep 2011

STED microscope reveals that F-actin pervades immunological synapse

Making use of a new "super resolution" microscope that provides sharp images at extremely small scales, scientists have achieved unprecedented views of the immune system in action.

14 Sep 2011

Electron microscope reveals minute morphology of dendritic trees

Neurons in the brain play a role as an electric wire conveying an electrical signal. Because this electric wire is connected with various joints, various brain functions can occur. A neuron which has dendritic trees on it, receives the signals with many synapses located on those dendritic trees, and carries out functions by combining the received signals.

14 Sep 2011

General anesthesia can cause cognitive impairment in children

General anesthesia administered to the developing animal brain depresses much needed neuronal activity and communication resulting in long-lasting cognitive impairment, according to an article published in the August issue of Current Opinion in Anesthesiology.

12 Sep 2011

Dysregulated neuronal RNA transport may cause Fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome

SUNY Downstate scientist Ilham Muslimov, MD, PhD, along with senior author Henri Tiedge, PhD, professor of physiology and pharmacology and of neurology, published a study suggesting that cellular dysregulation associated with certain neurodegenerative disorders may result from molecular competition in neuronal RNA transport pathways.

8 Sep 2011

Excitation and inhibition remain balanced, even when the brain undergoes reorganization

Every second, the brain's nerve cells exchange many billions of synaptic impulses. Two kinds of synapses ensure that this flow of data is regulated: Excitatory synapses relay information from one cell to the next, while inhibitory synapses restrict the flow of information.

8 Sep 2011

Study reveals striking brain similarities in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia

Researchers from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) and Beaumont Hospital have conducted a study which has found striking brain similarities in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. The research has also pinpointed for the first time that a process which controls how information is transmitted from neuron to neuron in the brain is altered in both conditions and may potentially contribute to the developments of improved treatments in the future.

25 Aug 2011

New role for harmonin protein in Usher syndrome

University of Iowa scientists have discovered a new role for a protein that is mutated in Usher syndrome, one of the most common forms of deaf-blindness in humans. The findings, which were published Aug. 8 in Nature Neuroscience, may help explain why this mutation causes the most severe form of the condition.

16 Aug 2011