Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: neuroscience – Page 19

Genetic deletions may help explain differences in schizophrenia severity

Schizophrenia affects approximately 23 million people worldwide, with onset usually occurring during a person’s late adolescence or 20s. Impairments associated with schizophrenia include hallucinations, delusions, and disorganized thinking and behavior.

Now, researchers at the University of Washington are investigating how genetic changes affect the severity of schizophrenia symptoms. A new study, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, supports the idea that deletions in genes that regulate early brain and neuron development are associated with more severe features of schizophrenia spectrum disorders, particularly lower cognitive abilities.

Gastrointestinal symptoms correlate with core clinical features and systemic inflammation in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome

Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a debilitating multisystem illness marked by fatigue, cognitive impairment, and post-exertional malaise. Gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms are frequently reported, yet their relationship to central features of the illness and biological correlates remains poorly understood.

We aimed to characterize GI symptom burden in ME/CFS and evaluate its associations with core clinical features and specific immune and inflammatory markers, with attention to potential gut-related contributions to disease expression.

GI symptoms and 49 additional symptoms across nine domains were assessed in 116 ME/CFS patients and 80 matched controls. Plasma C-reactive protein (CRP) and antibodies against dietary and microbial antigens were measured as indicators of systemic inflammation and putative gut-derived antigen exposure.

Defining Endogenous DMT Brain Biotypes: A Multi-Modal Neuroimaging Study

Could Your Brain Have Its Own “DMT Signature”? A New Research Proposal Aims to Find Out.

A new neuroscience research proposal is exploring a fascinating question: Do people naturally differ in their levels or activity of endogenous DMT, and could those differences be reflected in distinct brain “biotypes”?

Rather than administering DMT, the researchers propose analyzing an existing dataset of approximately 1,100 participants using multiple complementary measures, including:

PET imaging to examine serotonin receptor systems.

Structural and functional MRI to assess brain anatomy and connectivity.

Diffusion MRI to evaluate white matter microstructure.

Blood biomarkers.

Continue reading “Defining Endogenous DMT Brain Biotypes: A Multi-Modal Neuroimaging Study” | >

Mind-wandering mechanisms change depending on eye state

A type of brain activity linked to arousal and attention can track mind wandering. But research conflicts on whether this activity promotes or hinders mind wandering. Esther Thielking of Barnard College and colleagues explored whether having the eyes open or closed changes the relationship between this brain activity and mind wandering.

Said Thielking, “We predicted that eye state might explain these conflicts because closing the eyes strengthens [this brain activity] and reverses its relationship with sleepiness, which is itself closely tied to mind wandering.”

As reported in their JNeurosci paper, the researchers recorded brain activity in adults with their eyes open or closed as they performed a task involving paying attention to sounds or letting their minds wander.

The calcium pump ATP2B1/PMCA1 regulates CNS vascular development by facilitating Norrin Frizzled4 signaling

Jo et al. identify the plasma membrane Ca2+−pump ATP2B1/PMCA1 as a regulator of endothelial Norrin/Frizzled4 and Wnt signaling in the CNS vasculature. Loss of ATP2B1 elevates intracellular Ca2+ and activates NFAT, suppressing β-catenin signaling and linking Ca2+ homeostasis to angiogenesis and blood-brain barrier integrity.

Cellular and signalling mechanisms that regulate the bloodbrain barrier Reviews Molecular Cell Biology

This Review summarizes the latest advances in blood–brain barrier (BBB) research, highlighting how emerging findings on the modulation of BBB function and heterogeneity by cellular interactions and signalling pathways might shape BBB-targeted therapeutics.

Inflammation may drive Dravet syndrome, offering a potential new treatment target

An overactive immune response in the brain may play a role in Dravet syndrome, a rare and severe genetic epilepsy that typically begins in infancy, according to Weill Cornell Medicine researchers. Children with the condition experience frequent seizures that are often difficult to control with medication and may also face developmental, cognitive and behavioral challenges. Until now, most research has focused on how a mutation in the SCN1A gene disrupts electrical signaling in the brain.

“Rather than being a disorder only involving abnormal electrical signaling, the disease may also involve a self-sustaining immune response triggered by DNA released from stressed neurons,” said study senior author Dr. Li Gan, the Burton P. and Judith B. Resnick Distinguished Professor in Neurodegenerative Diseases and director of the Helen and Robert Appel Alzheimer’s Disease Research Institute at Weill Cornell. “As a result, inflammation may help drive and sustain the disease. This finding links seizures to the brain’s immune system in a way that had not been fully appreciated before.”

The new preclinical study, published July 29 in Nature Neuroscience, identified an inflammatory pathway called cGAS-STING-interferon (IFN-I) signaling as a major contributor to disease progression. Blocking this molecular pathway could lead to new therapeutic strategies for epilepsy disorders.

/* */