Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: neuroscience – Page 265

MicroRNA regulation of enteric nervous system development and disease

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) serve as key regulators of enteric nervous system development, orchestrating migration, proliferation, and differentiation of enteric nervous system progenitors.

Aberrant miRNA expression underpins the pathogenesis of several enteric neuropathies, including Hirschsprung’s disease.

A convergence of miRNA activity across distinct enteric neuropathies highlights shared molecular pathways, exemplified by the miR-200 family.

Modulating the expression of miRNAs to influence their associated gene expression networks has therapeutic potential for enteric neuropathies. https://sciencemission.com/MicroRNA-regulation-of-enteric-ne…nd-disease

The enteric nervous system (ENS), an elaborate network of neurons and glia woven through the gastrointestinal tract, is integral for digestive physiology and broader human health. Commensurate with its importance, ENS dysfunction is linked to a range of debilitating gastrointestinal disorders. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), with their pleiotropic roles in post-transcriptional gene regulation, serve as key developmental effectors within the ENS. Herein, we review the regulatory dynamics of miRNAs in ENS ontogeny, showcasing specific miRNAs implicated in both congenital and acquired enteric neuropathies, such as Hirschsprung’s disease (HSCR), achalasia, intestinal neuronal dysplasia (IND), chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction (CIPO), and slow transit constipation (STC).

Scientists propose a targeted lysosomal dysfunction approach for glioblastoma treatment

Researchers at Nano Life Science Institute (WPI-NanoLSI), Kanazawa University, report in Nature Communications on how the targeted suppression of lysosome function may lead to brain cancer therapy.

Glioblastoma is a type of brain cancer with a very poor prognosis of survival. Causes of are not known, and there is no method for preventing the cancer. Traditional treatment includes the drug temozolomide (TMZ). In many cases, TMZ kills glioblastoma cells, but a significant portion of patients show resistance to the drug.

Changes in the levels of metabolites— playing key roles in metabolic processes in living organisms—have been observed in TMZ-resistant glioblastoma cells, pointing to the importance of understanding and targeting metabolic pathways in the context of cancer therapy.

General anesthesia reduces uniqueness of brain’s functional ‘fingerprint,’ study finds

Past psychology research suggests that different people display characteristic patterns of spontaneous thought, emotions and behaviors. These patterns make the brains of distinct individuals unique, to the point that neuroscientists can often tell them apart based on their neural activity.

Researchers at McGill University, University of Cambridge and other institutes recently carried out a study aimed at investigating how general anesthesia influences the unique neural activity signatures that characterize the brains of different people and animals.

Their findings, published in Nature Human Behavior, show that general anesthesia suppresses each brain’s unique functional connectivity patterns (i.e., the connections and communication patterns between different regions of the brain), both in humans and other species.

For the first time, scientists map the half-billion connections that allow mice to see

After nine years of painstaking work, an international team of researchers on Wednesday published a precise map of the vision centers of a mouse brain, revealing the exquisite structures and functional systems of mammalian perception.

To date, it is the largest and most detailed such rendering of neural circuits in a .

The map promises to accelerate the study of normal brain function: seeing, storing and processing memories, navigating complex environments. As importantly, it will deepen the study of brain diseases in anatomical and physiological terms—that is, in terms of the wiring and the relationships between circuits and signals. That’s especially promising for diseases that may arise from atypical wiring, such as autism and schizophrenia.

A cloaked human stem-derived neural graft capable of functional integration and immune evasion in rodent models

Immune evasion of human stem-cell-derived neural graft in rodent models.

Transplantation rejection is the main challenge in human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC)-derived therapies.

The researchers used hPSC line (termed H1-FS-8IM), engineered to overexpress 8 immunomodulatory transgenes, to enable transplant immune evasion.

They show in co-cultures, H1-FS-8IM PSC-derived midbrain neurons evaded rejection by T lymphocytes, natural killer cells, macrophages, and dendritic cells.

The authors also provide preclinical evidence of pluripotent stem cell line evading immune detection after neural engraftment in a humanized immune system mouse model and reversal of motor symptoms in Parkinsonian rats.

Incorporation of a suicide gene within the universal donor cell ensures safety for cell-based therapies. https://sciencemission.com/A-cloaked-human-stem-cell-derived-neural-graft

Continue reading “A cloaked human stem-derived neural graft capable of functional integration and immune evasion in rodent models” | >
/* */