Study Points to Possible Cause and Treatment for Non-familial Parkinson’s
Researchers identify a protein trafficking defect within brain cells that may underlie common non-familial forms of Parkinson’s disease. The study implicates two genetic variants that disrupt protein sorting in neurons.
Study Shows how Brain Cells Shape Temperature Preferences
A new study shows a complex set of overlapping neuronal circuits works in concert to drive temperature preferences in the fruit fly Drosophila by affecting a single target, a heavy bundle of neurons within the fly brain known as the mushroom body. These nerve bundles play critical roles in learning and memory.
Stimulating Brain Cells with Light
The work will be conducted on laboratory rats modelling Parkinson’s disease. The transplanted cells will be derived from skin from an adult human and will have been “reprogrammed” as nerve cells. The light-sensitive protein is obtained from a bacterium, which uses light to gain energy.
Scientists Pinpoint Key Player in Parkinson’s Disease Neuron Loss
Stem cell study may help to unravel how a genetic mutation leads to Parkinson’s symptoms. By reprogramming skin cells from Parkinson’s disease patients with a known genetic mutation, researchers identified damage to neural stem cells as a powerful player in Parkinson’s disease.
Dopamine: A Substance with Many Messages
Researchers recently localised and identified the most important types of nerve cells involved in forming positive and negative memories of a fruit fly. All four nerve cell types they discovered use dopamine to communicate with other nerve cells. Three of the nerve cell types assume various functions in mediating negative stimuli, while the fourth enables the fly to form positive memories.
Finding Brings Scientists One Step Closer to Parkinson’s Drug
Long-term aim is to develop new treatments to block the spread of damaged proteins in the brain. Van Andel Institute announces that researchers at Lund University in Sweden have published a study detailing how Parkinson’s disease spreads through the brain. Experiments in rat models uncover a process previously used to explain mad cow disease, in [...]
