Nervous System

The nervous system is an organ system containing a network of specialized cells called neurons that coordinate the actions of an animal and transmit signals between different parts of its body. In most animals the nervous system consists of two parts, central and peripheral. The central nervous system contains the brain and spinal cord.

What is the Nervous System?

The nervous system is a complex network of neurons and cells that carry messages to and from the brain and spinal cord to various parts of the body.

Function of the Nervous System

The Impact of Hormones on the Nervous System

Pathology of the Nervous System

Bioelectronic Medicine: Hacking Nervous System Signals for Therapeutic Benefits

What are Schwann Cells?

Development of the Nervous System

Latest Nervous System News and Research

Novel computational framework developed for real-time, personalized heart rate variability monitoring

Real-time and early detection of minute changes in the functioning of the cardiovascular system is crucial for managing critically ill patients, such as newborns and older adults, and can significantly affect their outcomes.

10 Feb 2026

Balance depends on preserving inner hair cells in the ear

Led by Mathieu Beraneck, researchers at the University of Paris Cité/CNRS and the University of Barcelona explored the strength of the relationship between a type of inner hair cell in the ear and balance.

9 Feb 2026

FDA label update expands CAR T access for primary CNS lymphoma

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute-led research helped drive an FDA label update for axicabtagene ciloleucel (Yescarta) that removes a prior exclusion for patients with primary central nervous system lymphoma, a rare and aggressive lymphoma of the brain and spinal cord.

9 Feb 2026

Brain immune cells regulate new neuron formation in adults

Breakthrough research from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine is revealing how immune cells in the adult brain can regulate the generation of new neurons.

9 Feb 2026

Nervous system actively promotes pre-cancerous pancreatic lesions

Pancreatic cancer has a lot of nerve. Notoriously tricky to detect, the disease also often resists traditional therapy. So, researchers are urgently looking for new ways to disrupt tumor formation.

9 Feb 2026

Late sleepers have higher heart risk, and it's mostly preventable

Researchers explore the association between an individual’s chronotype and cardiovascular risk.

9 Feb 2026

Electroacupuncture relieves pain-induced anxiety through prefrontal neural circuits

Neuropathic pain, caused by injury or disease of the somatosensory nervous system, is a major clinical challenge and often evolves into a chronic condition.

7 Feb 2026

Blocking p300 restores chemotherapy sensitivity in resistant tumors

Overcoming tumor resistance to chemotherapy drugs has long been a challenge for oncology clinicians and researchers.

6 Feb 2026

Griffith researchers on the cusp of new vaccine to prevent chikungunya

Griffith University researchers are on the cusp of a new vaccine to prevent chikungunya, a global health threat which attacks human joint tissue.

6 Feb 2026

Smartwatch data may help detect opioid misuse risk

Opioid overdoses continue to take a devastating toll across the United States. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2023, the nation recorded roughly 105,000 drug overdose deaths overall, with nearly 80,000 deaths involving opioids.

5 Feb 2026

EBV-linked killer T cells implicated in multiple sclerosis

Researchers at UC San Francisco have uncovered a new clue to how Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) could contribute to multiple sclerosis (MS), a chronic autoimmune disease that affects nearly one million Americans.

5 Feb 2026

Too many antioxidants may negatively affect future offspring

Antioxidants have been marketed as miracle supplements, touted for preventing chronic diseases and cancers; treating COPD and dementia; and slowing aging.

4 Feb 2026

Study identifies genetic fingerprint of neuropathic pain neurons

Researchers from The University of Texas at Dallas and their international colleagues have determined the molecular signature of human sleeping - or silent - nociceptors: sensory neurons that are unresponsive to touch or pressure yet are key culprits in neuropathic pain.

4 Feb 2026

Mediterranean diet may protect women against all stroke types

Following a Mediterranean diet is associated with a lower risk of all types of stroke among women, according to a study published on February 4, 2026, in Neurology Open Access, an official journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

4 Feb 2026

Rapid zebrafish model mimics muscle aging and sarcopenia

As people age, muscles naturally lose mass and strength, a condition known as sarcopenia. The decline can make everyday activities harder and increases the risk of falls, disability and early death.

4 Feb 2026

Ride Cincinnati grant funds research on immune activating wafer for glioblastoma treatment

A multidisciplinary team of University of Cincinnati Cancer Center researchers has received a $40,000 Ride Cincinnati grant to study a delayed release preparation, or wafer, of an immunostimulatory molecule to stimulate the central nervous system (CNS) immune system after surgery to remove glioblastoma, a form of primary brain cancer.

3 Feb 2026

Aging alters social preferences through distinct brain mechanisms

The loss of social connectedness as people age increases the odds of cognitive-related disorders and can worsen health outcomes in older populations. But is there a direct relationship between social behavior and cognition? Subhadeep Dutta Gupta, Peter Rapp, and colleagues, from the National Institute on Aging, developed a rat model to probe social cognition in the aging brain.

2 Feb 2026

Exploring how prenatal alcohol and stress affect rhesus monkey offspring in adulthood

New in JNeurosci, Mary Schneider and Alexander Converse, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, led an interdisciplinary study to explore how prenatal alcohol and stress exposure affect rhesus monkey offspring in adulthood.

2 Feb 2026

Targeted therapy for the less impaired arm improves movement for stroke survivors

Traditional stroke rehabilitation therapy focuses on restoring strength and movement to the more impaired side of the body, but a new randomized clinical trial has revealed that targeted therapy for the less impaired arm significantly improved movement and control for stroke survivors.

2 Feb 2026

Regulating microglial phagocytosis through immunotherapy could slow Parkinson's disease progression

By analyzing tissue from patients with Parkinson's disease, and animal and cellular models of the disease, a research team from the Institut de Neurociències of the UAB has shown that the main immune cells of the brain become reactive and overexpress certain receptors that promote the elimination of dopaminergic neurons, even when these neurons are still functional.

2 Feb 2026