Study reveals a signaling pathway that controls the formation of synapses between pyramidal neurons and inhibitory neurons expressing the parvalbumin protein.
Investigating the effects of genetic abnormalities associated with autism and human brain development, researchers found brain organoids engineered to have lower levels of the ASD-associated SHANK3 gene had distinct features including neural firing hyperactivity, disruptions in pathways that cause cells to adhere to each other, and indications of ineffective neurotransmission.
SARS_CoV_2, the virus responsible for COVID-19 infects and replicates in astrocytes, reducing neural viability.
A neural pathway that leads directly from the thalamus to the hypothalamus plays a critical role in processing touch information, a new study reveals.
In the cerebral cortex, when somatostatin neurons become active, other nearby somatostatin neurons became active as well. The distance over which somatostatin neurons shared activity expanded in the posterior parietal cortex.
During the embryonic stage, tactile information simultaneously activated the tactile and visual neural pathways. After birth, the pathways separate and reorganize to allow for individual processing of visual and tactile information.
Brain mapping study identifies important neural networks and their connections that appear to enhance the conscious experience.
A study of the cerebral cortex discovered there is a robust response to sound during sleep that largely mirrored the brain's response during wakefulness. However, differences in brain waves that help the brain understand sound and anticipate what comes next is missing during sleep.
During sleep, the brain analyzes auditory input but is unable to focus on the sound or identify the noise; therefore no conscious awareness of the stimuli occurs.
Neuroimaging study reveals how light-sensitive signals reach the brain and how regions associated with mood process those signals. Some regions of the cerebral cortex associated with cognitive and mood processing show sensitivity to light intensity.
The liver appears to play a significant role in regulating feeding behaviors in mice.
Human cortical networks have evolved a novel neural network that relies on abundant connections between inhibitory interneurons.
