Lifeboat Foundation

The adorable and enigmatic axolotl is capable of regenerating many different body parts, including limbs, organs, and even portions of its brain. Scientists hope that a deeper understanding of these extraordinary abilities could help make this kind of tissue regeneration possible for humans. With news today of the first complete axolotl genome, researchers can now finally get down to the business of unraveling these mysteries.

Axolotls are tiny aquatic salamanders whose only native habitat is a lake near Mexico City. Many animals, such as frogs, sea stars, and flatworms, are capable of tissue regeneration, but the axolotl is unique in that it can regenerate many different body parts over the course of its entire life cycle, including limbs, tail, heart, lungs, eyes, spinal cord, and up to half of its brain.

Monash researchers have unlocked a key process in all human cells that contributes to diseases like cancer and neurodegenerative diseases as well as ageing. The discovery reveals how cells efficiently get rid of cellular junk, which when it accumulates, can trigger death and the health problems associated with getting older.

Autophagy is the ‘clean-up crew’ of the cell—used by cells to break-down debris like broken proteins, bits of cell membrane, viruses or bacteria. To capture this trash, cells use specialised membranes to trap the cargo for recycling into new parts and energy. Without efficient autophagy cells become choked by their own damaged components, which can contribute to the development of a range of diseases, including diabetes, muscular dystrophy, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr. Michael Lazarou’s laboratory from the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute have today published data in Nature Communications that debunks previously held beliefs about how cells target their trash. Cells target different types of cargo by using ‘autophagy receptors’, which can bind the cargo as well as the ensnaring membranes. Until recently these autophagy receptors were thought to recruit the membranes to the cargo, but research led by Dr. Benjamin Padman from the Lazarou lab now shows that this is not the case.

Continue reading “Teaching human cells to clean house to delay aging and fight neurodegeneration” »

In the new paper, Jason Snyder, Ph.D., a University of British Columbia behavioral neuroscientist, argues that if you take a close look at all the studies on animals from mice to humans, the facts are quite clear: Animals probably don’t develop significant amounts of new brain cells as we enter adulthood. There’s still hope for some neurogenesis, but not a huge amount.

“In some respects, it’s just one of the things that humanity has always hoped for — staying young,” he tells Inverse. “So I think it’s been disconcerting that there might not be as many of these young cells that are malleable, that are adaptive, that are capable of learning earlier in life. Of course we want those things to be there, but I think that introduces some bias.”

To be clear, Snyder doesn’t argue that the field is biased. Instead, his argument is based on the analysis of past studies that have looked into this topic in humans, primates, and mice. There he admits that there’s been some confusion — some studies seem to show that the brain can continue to develop new cells later in life, while others show that it can’t. Specifically, he says that it’s been hard to let go of the idea of neurogenesis because of the results of animal studies (many on mice) “demonstrating persistent neurogenesis throughout life.”

Continue reading “Neuroscientists May Finally Know Whether the Adult Brain Can Grow New Cells” »

Nature nurture part… One of the better talks I’ve heard so far though lately on the subject. Might even give the book a try. More enjoyable and informative for me than Robert Plomin’s exploits lately, though they are kind of in agreement in some regards.

This is a timeline of cryonics.

Cryonics is the attempt to preserve a human or non-human animal using low-temperature with the hope that partial or complete resuscitation may be possible in the future.

While cryonics is currently the most popular brain preservation method, other methods are being used and developed, notably plastination. This page treats about all brain preservation methods.

By Debora MacKenzie

If you bled when you brushed your teeth this morning, you might want to get that seen to. We may finally have found the long-elusive cause of Alzheimer’s disease: Porphyromonas gingivalis, the key bacteria in chronic gum disease.

That’s bad, as gum disease affects around a third of all people. But the good news is that a drug that blocks the main toxins of P. gingivalis is entering major clinical trials this year, and research published today shows it might stop and even reverse Alzheimer’s. There could even be a vaccine.

Continue reading “We may finally know what causes Alzheimer’s – and how to stop it” »

Food additives known as dietary emulsifiers, commonly found in processed foods to improve texture and extend shelf life, may adversely affect anxiety-related and social behaviors in mice, Georgia State researchers have found.

The scientists also observed sex differences in the mice’s behavioral patterns, suggesting that emulsifiers affect the brain via distinct mechanisms in males and females.

The study, published in Scientific Reports, was led by Geert de Vries, professor of neuroscience and associate vice president for research at Georgia State, and Benoit Chassaing, assistant professor of neuroscience. Andrew T. Gewirtz, professor in the Institute for Biomedical Sciences, also contributed.

Continue reading “Common Food Additives May Promote Anxiety-Related Behavior In Mice” »

This BBC Focus Special Edition reveals the science behind how to stay fit, live well and keep your brain sharp.

Researchers from the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience (NIN) and the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) have shown that treatment using gene therapy leads to a faster recovery after nerve damage. By combining a surgical repair procedure with gene therapy, the survival of nerve cells and regeneration of nerve fibers over a long distance was stimulated for the first time. The discovery, published in the journal Brain, is an important step towards the development of a new treatment for people with nerve damage.

During birth or following a traffic accident, nerves in the neck can be torn out of the spinal cord. As a result, these patients lose their arm function, and are unable to perform daily activities such as drinking a cup of coffee. Currently, surgical repair is the only available treatment for patients suffering this kind of nerve damage. “After surgery, nerve fibers have to bridge many centimeters before reaching the muscles and nerve cells from which new fibers need to regenerate are lost in large numbers. Most regenerating nerve fiber do not reach the muscles. The recovery of arm function is therefore disappointing and incomplete,” explains researcher Ruben Eggers of the NIN.