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Category: neuroscience – Page 3

‘Listening in’ on the brain’s hidden language: Engineered protein detects the faintest incoming signals

Scientists have engineered a protein able to record the incoming chemical signals of brain cells (as opposed to just their outgoing signals). These whisper-quiet incoming messages are the release of the neurotransmitter glutamate, which plays a critical role in how brain cells communicate with one another but until now has been extremely difficult to capture.

The findings are published in Nature Methods and could transform how neuroscience research is done as it pertains to measuring and analyzing neural activity.

The special protein that researchers at the Allen Institute and HHMI’s Janelia Research Campus have engineered is a molecular “glutamate indicator” called iGluSnFR4 (pronounced ‘glue sniffer’). It’s sensitive enough to detect the faintest incoming signals between neurons in the brain, offering a new way to decipher and interpret their complex cascade of electrical activity that underpins learning, memory, and emotion. iGluSnFR4 could help decode the hidden language of the brain and deepen our understanding of how its complex circuitry works. This discovery allows researchers to watch neurons in the brain communicate in real time.

Natural protein drug may slow neuron death linked to Alzheimer’s disease

Scientists at the University of Colorado Anschutz have discovered that while brain neuron changes, including cell loss, may begin in early life, a drug long-approved for other conditions might be repurposed to slow this damage, offering new hope for those with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other cognition issues.

The study was published today in the journal Cell Reports Medicine.

“This drug improved one measure of cognition and reduced a blood measure of neuron death in people with AD in a relatively short period of time in its first clinical trial,” said the study’s senior author Professor Huntington Potter, Ph.D., director of the University of Colorado Alzheimer’s and Cognition Center at CU Anschutz.

Key phospholipid points to potential treatment for vascular dementia

A possible new treatment for impaired brain blood flow and related dementias is on the horizon. Research by scientists at the University of Vermont Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine provides novel insights into the mechanisms that regulate brain blood flow and highlights a potential therapeutic strategy to correct vascular dysfunction.

Their preclinical findings, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest that adding a missing phospholipid back into a person’s circulatory system could restore normal brain blood flow and reduce symptoms of dementia.

“This discovery is a huge step forward in our efforts to prevent dementia and neurovascular diseases,” says principal investigator Osama Harraz, Ph.D., assistant professor of pharmacology at Larner College of Medicine.

How an antiviral defense mechanism may lead to Alzheimer’s disease

One of the main proteins that contributes to Alzheimer’s disease is called phospho-tau (p-tau). When p-tau gets too many phosphate groups attached to it (a process called hyperphosphorylation), it starts to stick together and form clumps called “tangles” inside of brain nerve cells.

A new study by Mass General Brigham investigators shows that tau hyperphosphorylation may be a consequence of an antiviral response that protects the brain from infection. Results are published in Nature Neuroscience.

“As a geneticist, I always wondered why humans had evolved gene mutations predisposing to Alzheimer’s disease,” said senior author Rudolph Tanzi, Ph.D., Director of the McCance Center for Brain Health and Genetics and Aging Research Unit in the Mass General Brigham Department of Neurology.

Rare Hall effect reveals design pathways for advanced spintronic materials

Scientists at Ames National Laboratory, in collaboration with Indranil Das’s group at the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics (India), have found a surprising electronic feature in transitional metal-based compounds that could pave the way for a new class of spintronic materials for computing and memory technologies.

Spintronics, a field that harnesses the spin of electrons in addition to their charge, promises breakthroughs in technologies such as brain-like computers and memory devices that retain data without power.

The unexpected feature was found in Mn₂PdIn, a Heusler compound—a type of alloy valued for its tunable magnetic and electronic properties. These alloys can exhibit behaviors not seen in their individual elements, making them prime candidates for spintronic applications.

Signature neural patterns may help predict recovery from traumatic brain injury

After traumatic brain injury (TBI), some patients may recover completely, while others retain severe disabilities. Accurately evaluating prognosis is challenging in patients on life-sustaining therapy.

Though resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) can assess neurological activity shortly after brain injury, it is unknown whether communication across brain regions at this early juncture predicts long-term recovery.

Not thinking about anything: Toward a brain signature of mind blanking

When we are awake, we seem to experience a continuous stream of sensations, reflections, memories, and impressions that make up our mental life. Yet some people report moments when they think about nothing at all. Is that even possible? Or is it an illusion caused by a memory bias?

Mind blanking is defined as the complete absence of mental content that can be described to others. No mental images, no catchy tune looping in your head, no obsessive thoughts… nothing. This experience is often sought after by practitioners of meditation or mindfulness.

But it isn’t confined to them: it seems to be very common after intense, prolonged cognitive effort—such as a university exam—or in cases of sleep deprivation, explains Esteban Munoz-Musat, neurologist and former doctoral student in the Picnic Lab at Paris Brain Institute.

Gut bacteria may play role in bipolar depression by directly influencing brain connectivity

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a psychiatric disorder characterized by extreme mood changes. Individuals diagnosed with BD typically alternate between periods of high energy, euphoria, irritability and/or impulsivity (i.e., manic episodes) and others marked by feelings of sadness, low energy, and hopelessness (i.e., depression).

While there are now several medications that can help patients to manage the disorder and stabilize their mood, many of these drugs have side effects and dosages often need to be periodically adjusted. Recent studies suggest that the bacteria and microorganisms living in the digestive system, also known as gut microbiota, play a key role in mental health and might also contribute to some symptoms of BD.

Researchers at Zhejiang University, the Nanhu Brain-Computer Interface Institute and other institutes recently carried out a study investigating the possible connection between gut microbiota and the depressive episodes experienced by people diagnosed with BD. Their findings, published in Molecular Psychiatry, suggest that the microorganisms in the digestive system can directly influence connections between specific brain regions known to be affected by BD depression.

Scientists grow mini brains to uncover cells behind autism-related brain overgrowth

A new study in the lab of Jason Stein, Ph.D., modeled brain development in a dish to identify cells and genes that influence infant brain growth, a trait associated with autism.

Researchers have made great strides to understand early signs of autism.

Studies have found that certain factors like genetics, sleep deprivation, excess fluid in the brain—and brain size—can increase the risk of neurodevelopmental conditions, like autism.

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