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substantia nigra

Featured Neurology Open Neuroscience Articles

·April 29, 2018·4 min read

Lipid Accumulation in Brain May Be an Early Sign of Parkinson’s

Researchers report the accumulation of glycosphingolipids in the substantia nigra appears to be elevated in Parkinson's disease patients. The finding could be used as a biomarker for helping diagnose Parkinson's before symptoms of the disease set in.

Image shows a mouse and the chemical structure of dopamine.

Electrophysiology Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·February 1, 2018·5 min read

Body Movements Just Need a Puff of Dopamine to Get Started

Researchers say findings about how dopamine affects the initiation of movement could pave the way for the development of new treatments for Parkinson's and other movement related disorders.

Featured Neurology Open Neuroscience Articles

·September 28, 2017·6 min read

Parkinson’s Involves Degeneration of the Olfactory System

Max Planck researchers have made a groundbreaking discovery that helps explain why people with Parkinson's often report an impaired sense of smell. They discovered the total volume of glomeruli in the olfactory bulb of Parkinson's patients is only half of that found in people without the disease.

Featured Neurology

·September 8, 2017·4 min read

Interrupting Parkinson’s Disease

A new study reports antioxidant intervention during early stages of Parkinson's disease may help slow its progression.

Image shows a Parkinson's disease brain sample.

Featured Neurology

·July 3, 2017·4 min read

Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Spurred By Same Enzyme

Researchers have implicated an enzyme that appears to make both Tau and alpha synculein more toxic in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Inhibiting this enzyme has already proved helpful in treating animal models of Alzheimer's disease. The researchers report they are moving on to testing drugs that inhibit AEP in animal models of Parkinson's disease.

Image shows the brain tissue in a petri dish.

Featured Genetics Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·April 13, 2017·5 min read

Brain Tissue From a Petri Dish

Researchers successfully transform stem cells derived from skin cells into cells that behave similarly to the human midbrain.

Image shows a the location of the substantia nigra in the brain.

Featured Neurology

·March 23, 2017·3 min read

Scientific Discovery May Change Treatment of Parkinson’s

A neuroimaging study reports dopamine activity does not reflect the number of dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra of people with Parkinson's disease.

Featured Genetics Neurology Neuroscience

·March 2, 2017·5 min read

Red Hair Gene Variant May Underlie Association Between Parkinson’s and Melanoma

Mice that carry a gene associated with red hair have reduced production of dopamine in the substantia nigra and are more susceptible to toxins that can damage these dopaminergic neurons.

Image shows a dad and toddler looking at the sea.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·February 17, 2017·5 min read

How Dads Bond With Toddlers

According to a new study, fathers given a boost of oxytocin expressed increased activity in brain areas associated with empathy and reward when viewing photos of their small children.

This graphic depicts the numbers and function of glia and neurons in the aging human brain.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·January 10, 2017·4 min read

Glia, Not Neurons, Most Affected By Brain Aging

Examining postmortem brains, researchers discover the state of glia remains consistent as we age and could be used to predict a person's age at death.