Using fMRI, this study developed a brain signature for affective arousal that demonstrates high sensitivity across valence while remaining distinct from autonomic arousal and wakefulness, offering broad applications.
Category: neuroscience – Page 48
Altered protein translation elongation contributes to brain aging
The GFP gene, which has its origins in jellyfish, expresses proteins that fluoresce when illuminated with certain frequencies of light. Poeschla, of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, reported his results in the journal Nature Methods.
This function is regularly used by scientists to monitor the activity of individual genes or cells in a wide variety of animals. The development and refinement of the GFP technique earned its scientific pioneers the Nobel prize for chemistry in 2008.
In the case of the glowing cats, the scientists hope to use the GM animals in the study of HIV/AIDS.
World’s largest-scale brain-like computer with 2 billion neurons unveiled
Engineers in China unveiled a new generation of brain-like computer that mimics the workings of a macaque monkey’s brain.
Called Darwin Monkey, the system reportedly supports over 2 billion spiking neurons and more than 100 billion synapses, with a neuron count approaching that of a macaque brain.
Reports have revealed that the system consumes approximately 2,000 watts of power under typical operating conditions.
Newly discovered ‘sixth sense’ links gut microbes to the brain in real time
In a breakthrough that reimagines the way the gut and brain communicate, researchers have uncovered what they call a “neurobiotic sense,” a newly identified system that lets the brain respond in real time to signals from microbes living in our gut.
The new research, led by Duke University School of Medicine neuroscientists Diego Bohórquez, Ph.D., and M. Maya Kaelberer, Ph.D., published in Nature, centers on neuropods, tiny sensor cells lining the colon’s epithelium. These cells detect a common microbial protein and send rapid messages to the brain that help curb appetite.
But this is just the beginning. The team believes this neurobiotic sense may be a broader platform for understanding how the gut detects microbes, influencing everything from eating habits to mood—and even how the brain might shape the microbiome in return.
First-Of-Its-Kind Vagus Nerve Implant Gets FDA Approval As A Therapy For Rheumatoid Arthritis
The existing treatment options include biological and targeted synthetic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs, which some patients find hard to tolerate, and around 50 percent of patients discontinue their therapies within two years. SetPoint’s goal is to provide an alternative that can effectively manage autoimmune conditions without suppressing the immune system.
Its FDA approval follows a randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled study that followed 242 patients. It showed that the therapy was well-tolerated with a low level of serious adverse events related to it (1.7 percent). It also provides a long-term solution for patients living with this chronic disease.
“The approval of the SetPoint System highlights the potential of neuroimmune modulation as a novel approach for autoimmune disease, by harnessing the body’s neural pathways to combat inflammation,” said the study’s principal investigator, Dr Mark Richardson, Director of Functional Neurosurgery at Massachusetts General Hospital and Professor of Neurosciences at Harvard Medical School, in a statement. “After implantation during a minimally invasive outpatient procedure, the SetPoint device is programmed to automatically administer therapy on a predetermined schedule for up to 10 years, simplifying care for people living with RA.”
Protein condensate sequesters synaptic vesicles at the release site
Message transfer from brain cell to brain cell is key to information processing, learning and forming memories. The bubbles, synaptic vesicles, are housed within the synapse — the connection point where brain cells communicate. In typical synapses within the brains of mammals, 300 synaptic vesicles are clustered together in the intersection between any two brain cells, but only a few of these vesicles are used for such message transfer, researchers say. Pinpointing how a synapse knows which vesicles to use has long been a target of research by those who study the biology and chemistry of thought.
In an effort to better understand the operation of these synaptic vesicles, the team designed a study that first focused on endocytosis, a process in which brain cells recycle synaptic vesicles after they are used for neuronal communication.
Already aware of intersectin’s general role in endocytosis and neuronal communication, the scientists genetically engineered mice to lack the gene that codes for intersectin. However, and somewhat to their surprise, the lead says removing the protein did not appear to halt endocytosis in brain cells.
The research team refocused their experiments, taking a closer look at the synaptic vesicles themselves.
Using a high-resolution fluorescence microscope to observe where intersectin is in a synapse, the researchers found it in between vesicles that are used for neuronal communication and those that are not, as if they are physically separating the two.
To further understand the role of intersectin at this location, they used an electron microscope to visualize synaptic vesicles in action across one billionth of a meter. In all the nerve cells from mice lacking this protein, the scientists say synaptic vesicles close to the membrane were absent from the release zone of the synapse, the place where the bubbles would discharge to nearby neurons.
“This suggested that intersectin regulates release, rather than recycling, of these vesicles at this location of the synapse,” says the author.