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Category: neuroscience – Page 67

The subtle science behind safer brain implants

In a recent publication appearing in Advanced Science, researchers at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience challenge the assumptions surrounding the design and materials used for brain implants. Softer, flexible implants are gentler than older ones, but they are not completely harmless. By carefully studying these effects, researchers can begin to design safer implants, and bring long-term, reliable implants closer to reality.

In laboratories around the world, scientists are working on a bold goal: restoring blindness using brain implants. But behind the futuristic promise lies a quieter, more complicated story about materials, assumptions, and the limits of what we really understand about the brain.

One part of this story includes a deceptively simple question: How do you place a foreign object in the brain without evoking a reaction?

Mitochondrial dynamics in neurodevelopment and neurodevelopmental disorders

Mitochondria make essential contributions to neural development. Zhao and colleagues provide an overview of the mechanisms that regulate mitochondrial biogenesis, degradation, remodelling and transport, the importance of these processes for neural development and the proposed links between altered mitochondrial dynamics and neurodevelopmental disorders.

Abstract: Implications for protecting against cognitive impairment following HeadInjury👇

Here, Michael T. Heneka & team find the inflammasome adaptor ASC drives long-lasting brain inflammation and cognitive problems after mild head injury in a closed-head injury model.

The figure shows skeletonized activated microglia (Iba1+ cells) following closed head injury, with mice lacking ASC show showing preservation of morphological features, particularly at later time points.

3Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB), University of Luxembourg, Belvaux, Luxembourg.

4German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany.

5Department of Biotherapy, Cancer Center and State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, PR China.

Abstract: Immune signaling and function in neurodegeneration:

Yvonne L. Latour & Dorian B. McGavern contribute a Review to the JCI Series on Neurodegeneration, discussing signaling pathways, cellular players, and immune responses shared across multiple neurodegenerative diseases, while considering external factors that may influence CNS disease progression. Neurodegeneration.

Viral Immunology and Intravital Imaging Section, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, Maryland, USA.

Intranasal Human NSC‐Derived EVs Therapy Can Restrain Inflammatory Microglial Transcriptome, and NLRP3 and cGAS‐STING Signalling, in Aged Hippocampus

Tiny “fires” of inflammation smolder deep within the brain’s memory center, creating a persistent brain fog that makes it harder to think, form new memories or even adapt to new environments, all the while increasing the risk to disorders like Alzheimer’s disease.

Scientists call this slow burn “neuroinflammaging,” and for decades it was thought to be the inevitable price of growing older.

Until now.

A landmark study from researchers at the Texas A&M University Naresh K. Vashisht College of Medicine suggests the inflammatory tide responsible for brain aging and brain fog might actually be reversible. And the solution doesn’t involve brain surgery, but a simple nasal spray.

Led by Dr. Ashok Shetty, university distinguished professor and associate director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine, along with senior research scientists Dr. Madhu Leelavathi Narayana and Dr. Maheedhar Kodali, the team developed a nasal spray that, with just two doses, dramatically reduced brain inflammation, restored the brain’s cellular power plants and significantly improved memory.

The most surprising part? It all happened within weeks and lasted for months.

The findings, published in the Journal of Extracellular Vesicles, could reshape the future of neurodegenerative therapies and may even change how scientists think about brain aging itself.

Continue reading “Intranasal Human NSC‐Derived EVs Therapy Can Restrain Inflammatory Microglial Transcriptome, and NLRP3 and cGAS‐STING Signalling, in Aged Hippocampus” | >

Scientists Just Took A Major Step Towards One Of Sci-Fi’s Biggest Tropes

Major milestone in the viability of cryonic suspension in the form of revival of cells after vitrification. Vitrification is basically the use of chemical fixation at ultra cold temperatures, kinda like antifreeze. It prevents ice crystals forming in your cells, preventing them from being torn apart.

It’s INSANELY toxic, so solving that problem would mean we can really revive people in suspension who underwent vitrification (which is standard practice at ALCOR for a long time now).

That said, we still will need ways to repair whatever disease or injury that the patient actually died from. 😁👍

Researchers in Germany have developed a technique to vitrify mouse brain tissue and then thaw it out, all without significant loss of function.

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