Nervous System News and Research

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The nervous system is an organ system containing a network of specialized cells called neurons that coordinate the actions of an animal and transmit signals between different parts of its body. In most animals the nervous system consists of two parts, central and peripheral. The central nervous system contains the brain and spinal cord.

Study explains operating mode of mitochondrial sorting and assembly machinery

Mitochondria are vital for the human body as cellular powerhouses: They possess more than 1,000 different proteins, required for many central metabolic pathways. Disfunction of these leads to severe diseases, especially of the nervous system and the heart.

18 Jan 2021

Exaggerated activation of food quality control system may explain the rising food allergies

For more than three decades, food allergies have been rising drastically across the developed world.

15 Jan 2021

Neurons in the brainstem circuit control fine motor skills

Writing, driving a screw or throwing darts are only some of the activities that demand a high level of skill.

7 Jan 2021

Molecular markers in the blood can predict severe COVID-19 outcomes

Molecular markers in the blood shown to be predictive of severe COVID-19 outcomes resulting from SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection have been identified in a study by a Chinese research team.

15 Dec 2020

Damage to brain cells causes a chain reaction that impacts 'bystander' neurons

Injury or disease that afflicts a relatively small number of brain cells causes a chain reaction that stops activity across a vast network of neural circuits, according to new research from Oregon Health & Science University.

9 Dec 2020

Researchers use new decoding method to identify novel proteins encoded by HSV-1

Comprehensive identification of viral proteins encoded by viral genes is required to understand the pathophysiology of viral infections.

8 Dec 2020

Genetic modification in the ‘coat’ of fatal brain virus may allow it to escape antibodies

A genetic modification in the 'coat' of a brain infection-causing virus may allow it to escape antibodies, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers.

23 Nov 2020

Adipose tissue plays key role in the aggravation of COVID-19

There is growing evidence that adipose tissue plays a key role in the aggravation of COVID-19. One of the theories under investigation is that fat cells (adipocytes) act as a reservoir for SARS-CoV-2 and increase viral load in obese or overweight individuals.

23 Nov 2020

Study finds that cannabidiol induces the expression of heme oxygenase 1 in skin cells

At present, cannabidiol has found considerable use not just in the world of cosmetics but also in nutrition and pharmaceutics due to its therapeutic potential.

17 Nov 2020

Study confirms correlation between gut microbiota and Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia. Still incurable, it directly affects nearly one million people in Europe, and indirectly millions of family members as well as society as a whole.

16 Nov 2020

New approach can prevent toxicity linked to neurological gene therapy

Scientists have deigned a new method to inhibit a toxicity observed in the sensory neurons of DRG following gene therapy to treat neurological diseases.

12 Nov 2020

Yale researchers discover protein that protect hosts from lyme disease

Yale researchers have discovered a protein that helps protect hosts from infection with the tick-borne spirochete that causes Lyme Disease, a finding that may help diagnose and treat this infection, they report Nov. 11 in the journal PLOS Pathogens.

12 Nov 2020

Genetically edited form of herpes simplex virus outperforms key vaccine candidate

A genetically edited form of a herpes simplex virus -- rewired to keep it from taking refuge in the nervous system and eluding an immune response -- has outperformed a leading vaccine candidate in a new study from the University of Cincinnati, Northwestern University and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

9 Nov 2020

Experts use super-resolution microscopy to observe individual synapse proteins

In the synapses of nerve cells (neurons), there are hundreds of specialized proteins that are important for the functioning of the nervous system. If something goes wrong here, neurological or psychiatric diseases can be the result - Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, depression, and schizophrenia are just a few of them.

6 Nov 2020

Toxins produced by tube-dwelling anemones have pharmacological potential, shows research

Researchers based in Brazil and the United States have completed the first-ever mapping exercise to profile the toxins produced by tube-dwelling anemones, or cerianthids, a family of marine animals belonging to the same phylum (Cnidaria) as sea anemones, jellyfish and corals.

30 Oct 2020

SARS-Cov-2 spike proteins can directly impact the function of blood-brain barrier

Like a key, SARS-CoV-2 - the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) - attaches to specific molecules on the host cell surface, opening gateways into the cell interior.

30 Oct 2020

Researchers identify genes associated with autism spectrum disorder

The lack of some genes in the BEC/TCEAL cluster could be related to some alterations associated with the autism spectrum disorder, according to a preclinical study published in the journal Genome Biology, and led by Professor Jordi Garcia Fernàndez, from the Faculty of Biology and the Institute of Biomedicine of the University of Barcelona (IBUB), and researcher Jaime Carvajal, from the Andalusian Centre for Developmental Biology - University Pablo de Olavide (CSIC-UPO).

27 Oct 2020

Researchers reveal the features of T cells for treating multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disorder that develops as immune cells attack the nervous system. T cells are a critical part of our immune system, with a complex array of subtypes - some drive the autoimmune response, while others try to suppress it.

27 Oct 2020

Researchers discover a gene responsible for urination

In a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded study involving both mice and patients who are part of an NIH Clinical Center trial, researchers discovered that a gene, called PIEZO2, may be responsible for the powerful urge to urinate that we normally feel several times a day.

20 Oct 2020

Researchers demonstrate the impact of epithelial cells, mammary microenvironment on breast cancer cells

The cover for issue 30 of Oncotarget features Figure 4, "RNAseq results demonstrating differences between normal, cancer, and redirected cells," by Frank-Kamenetskii, et al. which reported that the influence of breast cancer cells on normal cells of the microenvironment, such as fibroblasts and macrophages, has been heavily studied but the influence of normal epithelial cells on breast cancer cells has not.

19 Oct 2020