Neurons News and Research

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Cellular Switches Direct Supplies During Memory Formation

When we form a memory, brain cells need to deliver supplies to strengthen specific neural connections.

15 Oct 2025

Rat Study Reveals Orbitofrontal Cortex Cells That Power Learning Under Uncertainty

Newly identified brain cells evolved along the theme, "Life is uncertain; Eat dessert first." The neurons, located in the front part of the brain, are most active when the outcome of a decision is uncertain, suggesting that they help with decision making, along with learning and mental flexibility in general.

10 Oct 2025

Studies Uncover PAR2 Receptor’s Role in Gut Inflammation and Pain

Abdominal pain is common in a variety of digestive diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease and irritable bowel syndrome.

8 Oct 2025

Golden Broccoli Aptamer Enables Real-Time Measurement of Glycine

The amino acid glycine is an important neurotransmitter that regulates memory, reflex and brain development, and it may also be a biomarker for bacterial virulence.

6 Oct 2025

Breakthrough in Understanding How Tick-Borne Encephalitis Virus Infects Human Brain Cells

The protein on human cells that tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) uses for infection has now been identified-a major step toward understanding how TBEV causes neurological disease and for developing antiviral drugs.

3 Oct 2025

How GBA Mutations Drive Cognitive Decline in Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson's disease causes both movement and cognitive deficits, and for a long time both were thought to be caused by the accumulation of a protein called alpha-synuclein in the brain.

3 Oct 2025

Hormones Activate Aggression Neurons in Mouse Mothers

A new study has found a system in the brain that explains why female mice, who are not normally aggressive, suddenly exhibit this behavior after becoming pregnant and giving birth.

3 Oct 2025

New SCOPE Tool Transforms Discovery of Gene-Regulating Proteins

A new tool greatly improves scientists' ability to identify and study proteins that regulate gene activity in cells, according to research led by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators.

30 Sep 2025

RyR1-Mediated CICR Plays Minimal Role in Normal Skeletal Muscle Contraction

Researchers engineered mice with a mutation (E3896A) in the RyR1 calcium-binding site, eliminating calcium-induced calcium release (CICR) without affecting depolarization-induced calcium release.

26 Sep 2025

Protein Networks Expose New Therapeutic Targets for Alzheimer's

A recent study conducted by the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai provides one of the most thorough insights to date regarding the interactions of brain cells in Alzheimer’s disease, illustrating protein networks that expose communication breakdowns and highlight potential new therapeutic avenues for treatment.

26 Sep 2025

Discovery Reveals Spinal Neurons as Active Players in Sexual Behavior

For decades, it was thought that while the brain orchestrated male sexual behavior – arousal, courtship, and copulation – the spinal cord merely executed the final act: ejaculation. But a study from the Champalimaud Foundation (CF) challenges that tidy division.

25 Sep 2025

Astrocytes Found to Integrate Signals from Multiple Neurons

A collaborative French-Swiss study reveals a previously unknown role for astrocytes in the brain's information processing.

25 Sep 2025

Cryo-EM Study Uncovers Hidden Steps in NMDA Receptor Activation

When it comes to brain proteins, small changes can make a dramatic difference. Researchers studying NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate) receptors, which are essential for learning, memory and moment-by-moment consciousness, know that even slight changes in their activity level can mean the difference between normal function and serious neurological disorders.

25 Sep 2025

Honeybee Food-Sharing Genes Linked to Human Social Behavior

The study links genetic variation to honeybee sociability, revealing insights into food-sharing behavior and its evolutionary significance in social networks.

25 Sep 2025

Understanding Proprioception and Motor Control in Fruit Flies

In a fruit fly, nerve cells that detect limb movement are silenced when the insect walks or grooms. This on-off switch may help the nervous system to shift between two states: one helps keep the body steady and the other readies it to move.

22 Sep 2025

Metastatic Lung Cancer Cells Cozy Up to Neurons and Form Synapses

Small cell lung cancer cells that metastasize to the brain cozy up to neurons and form working electrical connections, called synapses, according to an upcoming study led by Stanford Medicine researchers.

11 Sep 2025

PhoBITs Enable Unprecedented Control of Cellular Pathways with Blue Light

Imagine being able to flip a light switch to control disease pathways inside a living cell. A team of visionary researchers at the Texas A&M University Health Science Center (Texas A&M Health) is making this dream a reality with their groundbreaking genetic tools known as photo-inducible binary interaction tools, or PhoBITs.

10 Sep 2025

Researchers Develop New Technique to Detect Causality in Neural Spike Trains

Understanding the brain's functional architecture is a fundamental challenge in neuroscience. The connections between neurons ultimately dictate how information is processed, transmitted, stored, and retrieved, thus forming the basis of our cognitive functions.

10 Sep 2025

Stress Reshapes Brain Cells and Alters Activity in Mice

Canadian researchers show that stress modifies the morphology of brain cells in mice, directly influencing the rodents' level of physical activity.

5 Sep 2025

Researchers Uncover Toggle Switch Guiding Stem Cell Fate in Olfactory Neurons

Cellular differentiation of stem cells into specialized cells requires many steps, including division, to create more cells; fate determination, which is a commitment to a specific lineage or developmental path; and migration, to integrate the cell into its final location.

29 Aug 2025