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GABA

·January 1, 2020·3 min read

New Year’s anxiety hangover? Here’s what’s happening in your brain

Hangxiety, the feeling of waking up with anxiety the morning after heavy drinking, is a common symptom associated with a hangover. Researchers explain how a heavy night's drinking alters neurochemistry, leaving some of us prone to waking with anxiety.

This shows the location of the ventral pallidum in the brain

Featured Neuroscience

·December 31, 2019·3 min read

How the brain balances pleasure and pain

Different classes of neurons in the ventral pallidum control positive and negative motivations, sending opposing signals along a shared motivation-processing circuit.

Featured Neuroscience

·November 16, 2019·4 min read

Your brain on sugar: What the science actually says

From reducing memory capability to increasing the risk of diabetes and obesity, researchers investigate how sugar affects the brain and body.

This shows a male and female head surrounded by different colors

Featured Genetics Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles Psychology

·September 3, 2019·3 min read

The neurobiological mechanisms behind schizophrenia may depend on gender

Schizophrenia is linked to alterations in pathways associated with glycosaminoglycan, neurotransmitter metabolism, and GABAergic synapses. A large percentage of genes related to schizophrenia are expressed differently between males and females. The results imply the mechanisms involved in schizophrenia development differ, at least slightly, between males and females.

Autism Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles Visual Neuroscience

·August 15, 2019·4 min read

Autism can be measured through a non-verbal marker

A visual test may be a new tool in the diagnosis of autism. Individuals on the autism spectrum are slower to dampen neural activity in response to visual stimuli in the brain. Using EEG data collected from the visual region, researchers could predict with 87% accuracy whether or not a person had ASD.

Featured Neuroscience

·June 24, 2019·2 min read

Researchers identify new hunger pathway in the brain

Newly identified network in the hypothalamus alters feeding behaviors on a shorter timescale. The pathway affects food intake and body weight by releasing GABA, which may occur due to the detection, and not the consumption of food.

Autism Featured Genetics Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·May 30, 2019·5 min read

Research confirms gut-brain connection in autism

Genetic mutations, which occur in both the brain and gut, could be a main cause of autism. Using mouse models of ASD, researchers discovered the neuroligin-3 R451C mutation affects neural communication in the brain and causes dysfunction in the gut. The findings strengthen the gut-brain hypothesis of autism.

Featured Genetics Neuroscience

·May 23, 2019·3 min read

Targeting key gene could help lead to down syndrome treatment

Using stem cells from candidates with Down syndrome to create an organoid, and employing mouse models, researchers pinpoint a gene linked to memory impairments and cognitive problems in Down syndrome. Inhibiting the OLIG2 gene leads to cognitive and memory improvements in mouse models of Down. Researchers hope their findings lead to an in utero treatment that targets the gene and helps reverse abnormal brain development.

This shows the lead research looking after a baby in a neonatal ward

Autism Featured Neuroscience

·April 27, 2019·3 min read

Placental function linked to brain injuries associated with autism

Disruptions in the supply of allopregnanolone, a hormone created by the placenta late in pregnancy, to the developing fetus can leave children more vulnerable to brain injuries associated with ASD. Losing the supply of ALLO alters cerebellar development, an area of the brain critical for motor coordination and social cognition, impacting the post-birth development of cerebellar white matter. An experimental model revealed deficient cerebellar white matter resulted in social impairments and an increase in repetitive behaviors, two hallmark features associated with autism.

This shows a brain with bobbles and lines forming networks

Featured Genetics Neuroscience Psychology

·April 26, 2019·4 min read

Brain’s support network may play key role in attention deficit, hyperactivity behaviors: Rodent study

Astrocytes can alter neurons to drive behaviors associated with ADHD. Researchers believe astrocytes may be used to develop targeted treatments for behavioral deficits associated with a range of mental illnesses.

This shows AAN activation in the supraoptic nucleus

Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·April 18, 2019·4 min read

General anesthesia hijacks sleep circuitry to knock you out

Study reveals anesthesia activated neurons have been discovered in the hypothalamus. Activation of AANs promotes slow-wave sleep, extending the effects of anesthesia, while inhibition of AANs shortens the duration of general anesthetics and disrupts natural sleep.

This shows the chemical structure of oxytocin

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles Psychology

·April 16, 2019·3 min read

Oxytocin could help treat alcohol use disorder: Rat Study

Administering oxytocin blocks the enhanced motivation for drinking alcohol that fuels alcohol use disorder by blocking GABA signaling in the central nucleus of the amygdala.