Posts Tagged ‘synaptic plasticity’
Cancer Cells and Stem Cells Share Same Origin – Brain Cells Grown from Skin
Scientists at the Keck School of Medicine of USC grow brain cells from skin Oncogenes are generally thought to be genes that, when mutated, change healthy cells into cancerous tumor cells. Scientists at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California [Read More]
Atomic Structure Discovered for a Sodium Channel that Generates Electrical Signals in Living Cells
The achievement opens new possibilities for designing drugs for pain, epilepsy and heart rhythm disturbances Scientists at the University of Washington (UW) in Seattle have determined the atomic architecture of a sodium channel. The achievement opens new possibilities for [Read More]
Nervous System Stem Cells Can Replace Themselves, Give Rise to Variety of Cell Types, Even Amplify
Team reconstituted stem cells’ “family tree” A Johns Hopkins team has discovered in young adult mice that a lone brain stem cell is capable not only of replacing itself and giving rise to specialized neurons and glia – important types of brain cells – but also of [Read More]
Competition Between Brain Cells Spurs Memory Circuit Development
From the Petri dish into a living organism, for the first time U-M scientists observe key aspects of how the brain shapes itself Scientists at the University of Michigan Health System have for the first time demonstrated how memory circuits in the brain refine themselves in [Read More]
UC Riverside Neuroscientists’ Discovery Could Bring Relief to Epilepsy Sufferers
Maxim Bazhenov and Giri Krishnan used computational model to study epileptic seizures at the molecular level; research could lead to novel therapeutics for seizure disorder Researchers at the University of California, Riverside have made a discovery in the lab that could [Read More]
Researchers Discover ‘Road Map’ in Fish Brain for How Vertebrates Produce Sounds
Cornell researchers have identified regions of a fish brain that reveal the basic circuitry for how all vertebrates, including humans, generate sound used for social communication. Much like walking or swimming, to make sounds, vertebrate (animals with a backbone) brains [Read More]
Sodium Channels Evolved Before Animals’ Nervous Systems, Research Shows
An essential component of animal nervous systems—sodium channels—evolved prior to the evolution of those systems, researchers from The University of Texas at Austin have discovered. “The first nervous systems appeared in jellyfish-like animals six hundred million [Read More]
As Time Goes by, It Gets Tougher to ‘Just Remember This’
It’s something we just accept: the fact that the older we get, the more difficulty we seem to have remembering things. We can leave our cars in the same parking lot each morning, but unless we park in the same space each and every day, it’s a challenge eight [Read More]
Can Traumatic Memories Be Erased?
Could veterans of war, rape victims and other people who have seen horrific crimes someday have the traumatic memories that haunt them weakened in their brains? In a new study, UCLA life scientists report a discovery that may make the reduction of such memories a reality. [Read More]
Molecular Architecture of Key NMDA Receptor Subunit Revealed
CSHL structural biologists reveal molecular architecture of key NMDA receptor subunit Structure of GluN2D subunit when docked with certain neurotransmitters helps explain the receptor’s slow deactivation Structural biologists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) in [Read More]
