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.

NSL Complex Regulates Intraciliary Transport Genes in Multiple Cell Types

The non-specific lethal (NSL) complex is a chromatin-associated factor that has been shown in both fruit flies and mammals to regulate the expression of thousands of genes. Abrogation of the NSL genes causes the organism to die, which gives rise to the complex’s unusual name.

28 Aug 2023

Global Map of How the Animal’s Nervous System is Organized to Control Behavior

To understand the full relationship between brain activity and behavior, scientists have needed a way to map this relationship for all of the neurons across a whole brain-;a so far insurmountable challenge.

22 Aug 2023

Aging Disrupts Gene Expression in Specific Regions of the Brain

Most of us who've reached middle age have noticed a slowing in memory and cognition, but scientists don't have a clear picture of the molecular changes that take place in the brain to cause it.

18 Aug 2023

Newly Developed Antibody Therapy to Have Benefits Over Existing Opioid-Overdose Treatments

An antibody in single-chain fragment variable (scFv) format that binds to the powerful opioid carfentanil was shown to reverse signs of carfentanil overdose in preclinical tests conducted by scientists at Scripps Research.

11 Aug 2023

New Breakthrough in Generative AI Models and AlphaFold Structures for Drug Discovery

Insilico Medicine ("Insilico"), a clinical-stage end-to-end generative artificial intelligence (AI) drug discovery company, has achieved a significant breakthrough in the application of multiple generative AI models and AlphaFold structures for drug discovery.

3 Aug 2023

Single-Cell Sequencing Finds New Cell Types in the Visual Systems of Flies

Researchers from New York University have created a method that discovers and labels neurons throughout development, which has allowed them to identify novel cell types in the visual system of flies.

1 Aug 2023

Integrating Ultrasound with Genetics to Precisely Modify Neurons in the Brain

Researchers have developed methods to study and manipulate areas of the brain, though many of those methods are restricted by the limited depth that light can reach within the brain. A multidisciplinary team at Washington University in St. Louis plans to overcome that limitation by integrating ultrasound with genetics to precisely modify neurons in the brain.

28 Jul 2023

New Class of Brain Inhibitory Neurons May Contribute to Autism and Schizophrenia

A University of California, Irvine-led team of researchers working at the Center for Neural Circuit Mapping find links between brain disorders and dysfunction of newly identified inhibitory brain cell types.

26 Jul 2023

Lactate Signaling Found to Be Critical for Neuronal Differentiation

Scientists at Tohoku University have discovered the critical role that lactate plays in helping neural stem cells develop into specialized neurons, a process dubbed neuronal differentiation.

25 Jul 2023

New Method Creates Embryo-Like Structure That Mimics Gastrulation

Gastrulation, the process where an embryo reorganizes itself from a hollow sphere into a multilayered structure, is considered a "black box" of human development.

21 Jul 2023

Identifying the Genetic Variant That Increases Disease Severity in MS

Research of over 22,000 patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) has for the first time discovered a genetic variant linked with speedier progression of the disease, a buildup of disability that can deprive patients of their mobility and independence over time.

29 Jun 2023

New Breakthrough of Genetic Marker Improves Treatment for Multiple Sclerosis

A study of more than 22,000 people with multiple sclerosis has discovered the first genetic variant associated with faster disease progression, which can rob patients of their mobility and independence over time.

29 Jun 2023

Probiotic Bacteria may Help Maintain Brain Function in Aging Nematodes

A group from Nagoya University in Japan has discovered that when the diet of nematodes, tiny worms measuring about a millimeter or less in length, includes the bacteria Lactobacillus reuteri, the weakening of associative learning ability caused by aging does not occur.

28 Jun 2023

New Technology can Help Probe the Connections Between the Brain and Gut

The brain and the digestive tract are in constant communication, relaying signals that help to control feeding and other behaviors.

23 Jun 2023

Rescue Treatment Found From Plant Extracts for People With Ataxia

A University of California, Irvine-led team of researchers have discovered that extracts from plants used by the Kwakwaka'wakw First Nations peoples in their traditional botanical medicine practices are able to rescue the function of ion channel proteins carrying mutations that cause human Episodic Ataxia.

22 Jun 2023

Albino Squid Illuminates Cephalopod Brain Activity

A team of researchers at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) has successfully engineered an albino strain of Euprymna berryi, the hummingbird bobtail squid.

21 Jun 2023

Review: Role of Alternative Splicing Defects in Major Neurodegenerative Diseases

Alternative splicing, a clever way a cell generates many different variations of messenger RNAs -; single-stranded RNAs involved in protein synthesis -; and proteins from the same stretch of DNA, plays an important role in molecular biology.

21 Jun 2023

Microglial Cells Serve as a Stable Viral Reservoir for Latent HIV

Human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV) introduces a copy of its DNA into human immune cells as part of its life cycle. Some of these newly infected immune cells can subsequently enter an inactive, latent state for an extended length of time, which is known as HIV latency.

19 Jun 2023

Can Temperature Influence the Octopus Neural Transcriptome?

Each cell has a finite set of instructions inscribed in its DNA. Life, on the other hand, is unpredictable, and when the situation changes, animals must change.

9 Jun 2023

Scientists Discover the Mechanisms of Synaptic Pruning in Brain Development

Researchers at Kyushu University have uncovered the mechanisms of a fundamental yet critically under-looked phase in brain development: synaptic pruning.

8 Jun 2023