Latest

synaptic plasticity

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·May 4, 2020·4 min read

Exercise boosts motor skill learning via changes in brain’s transmitters

Neurons in the caudal pedunculopontine nucleus, an area of the brain that regulates motor coordination, switch neurotransmitters from acetylcholine to GABA as a result of exercise. The switch appears to provide feedback control that regulates motor coordination and skill learning.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles Psychology

·April 26, 2020·4 min read

Effects of rapid-acting antidepressant ketamine consolidated in sleep?

Brain connections strengthened with treatment from fast-acting antidepressants, such as ketamine, are consolidated during deep sleep. Researchers propose rapid antidepressant treatments share the ability to regulate both synaptic potentiation and homeostatic mechanisms, which may contribute to how the brain reorganizes its activity to defeat depression.

Featured Genetics Neuroscience

·April 24, 2020·3 min read

Adult astrocytes are key to learning and memory

Mice deficient in the NFIA gene presented astrocytes with defective shapes and altered functions in the hippocampus.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·March 3, 2020·3 min read

Brain cells that change shape after a meal

Following a meal, astrocytes associated with POMC neurons in the hypothalamus alter their shape. After eating, glucose levels increase temporarily. Astrocytes detect the signal and react within one hour, causing POMC neurons to activate and promote the feeling of satiety.

This shows synaptic transmission in action

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles Psychology

·February 24, 2020·4 min read

Antibodies: The body’s own antidepressants

When autoantibodies are able to enter the bran and act on NMDA receptors, people experience relief from symptoms of anxiety, depression, and stress.

Featured Genetics Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·February 21, 2020·3 min read

Major discovery in the genetics of Down syndrome

Study explains how an overexpression of the RCAN1 gene may cause intellectual disabilities in people with Down syndrome.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·February 11, 2020·4 min read

How the brain’s immune system could be harnessed to improve memory

Altering microglia in rats helped enhance their performance in memory tasks by up to 50%. The findings could help to develop new therapies that enhance memory function and prevent cognitive decline in humans.

Featured Neuroscience

·February 7, 2020·3 min read

Brain cells long thought of as passive play key role in memory

Microglia, key immune cells in the brain, may play a significant role in memory retention.

Featured Genetics Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles Psychology

·February 2, 2020·2 min read

Clues to genetic origins of schizophrenia revealed

A study of the Xhosa, an ancestral African population, sheds light on the genetic origins of schizophrenia.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·January 30, 2020·3 min read

High and low exercise intensity found to influence brain function differently

Low-intensity exercise triggers brain networks associated with cognitive control and attention processing, while high-intensity exercise activates networks involved in emotional processing.

Autism Featured Genetics Neuroscience

·January 29, 2020·5 min read

Link between autism and cognitive impairment discovered

Study identifies a short gene segment crucial for brain development and information processing. The absence of the gene segment induces altered social behaviors, learning difficulties, and memory deficits, which are hallmarks of a subset of ASD.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·January 23, 2020·4 min read

A rat had basically no brain, but it could still see, hear, smell, and feel

Rat R222 was born with hydrocephalus. Neuroimaging revealed most of its brain had compressed and collapsed as it filled with fluid. However, despite its condition, the animal was still able to see, hear, smell, and feel like other animals. The study sheds new light on neuroplasticity, and the findings could have implications for the development of new machine learning technologies.