Scientists are reporting development of a long-sought method with the potential for getting medication through a biological barrier that surrounds the brain, where it may limit the brain damage caused by stroke. Their approach for sneaking the nerve…
A team of scientists has observed the activity of nerve cells in a songbird’s brain as it is singing a particular song. Dezhe Jin, an assistant professor in the Department of Physics at Penn State University and one of the study’s authors, expla…
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — By creating a better way to see molecules at work in living brain cells, researchers affiliated with MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory and the MIT Department of Chemistry are helping elucidate molecular mechanisms o…
A team of University of Oklahoma researchers studying neurobiology in fruit flies (Drosophila) has developed a new method for understanding brain function with potential applications in studies of human neurological diseases.
The work is carried …
SAN FRANCISCO, CA — September 9, 2010 — Amyloid beta (Αβ) proteins, widely thought to cause Alzheimer’s disease (AD), block the transport of vital cargoes inside brain cells. Scientists at the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Diseas…
An international study has discovered the reason why some people who eat a high-fat diet remain slim, yet others pile on the weight.
The study, led in Australia by the Monash Obesity and Diabetes Institute (MODI) at Monash University, found a high…
Human umbilical cord blood cells (HUCB) used to treat cultured rat brain cells (astrocytes) deprived of oxygen appear to protect astrocytes from cell death after stroke-like damage, reports a team of researchers from the University of South Florida …
Alzheimer’s disease destroys brain cells and their connections (called synapses), causing memory loss and other cognitive problems that disrupt work, hobbies and daily life. Symptoms can be alleviated, in part, by the drug memantine (marketed in the…
People with high levels of iron in their diet are more likely to develop Parkinson’s disease, according to a study in the June 10 issue of Neurology. People with both high levels of iron and manganese were nearly two times more likely to develop the disease than those with the lowest levels of the minerals in their diets. The study compared 250 people who were newly diagnosed with Parkinson’s to 388 people without the disease. Interviews were conducted to determine how often participants ate certain foods during their adult life.
By pumping a potent growth factor directly into the human brain, an international team of scientists and surgeons has demonstrated significant remediation of the debilitating symptoms of patients with Parkinson’s disease.
Blocking or eliminating a specific potassium channel in a small group of brain cells may improve or prevent the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, a debilitating and progressive neurodegenerative disease that afflicts over 1 million people in the United States. In Parkinson’s disease, neurons that release dopamine die. The loss of dopamine causes an array of debilitating symptoms that include resting tremor, muscle rigidity and slowed movement. Although the cause of the disease remains uncertain, James Surmeier and colleagues at Northwestern University have discovered a way of potentially lessening the symptoms and progression of the disease. The investigators describe their findings in the March issue of Nature Neuroscience.<