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Category: neuroscience – Page 798

Striatal dopamine mediates hallucination-like perception in mice

There has not been enough progress in our understanding of the basic mechanisms underlying psychosis. Studying psychotic disorders in animal models is difficult because the diagnosis relies on self-reported symptoms that can only be assessed in humans. Schmack et al. developed a paradigm to probe and rigorously measure experimentally controlled hallucinations in rodents (see the Perspective by Matamales). Using dopamine-sensor measurements and circuit and pharmacological manipulations, they demonstrated a brain circuit link between excessive dopamine and hallucination-like experience. This could potentially be useful as a translational model of common psychotic symptoms described in various psychiatric disorders. It may also help in the development of new therapeutic approaches based on anatomically selective modulation of dopamine function.

Science, this issue p. see also p. [33][2]

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A Blood Test For Depression and Bipolar Disorder

Summary: A new blood test can distinguish the severity of a person’s depression and their risk for developing severe depression at a later point. The test can also determine if a person is at risk for developing bipolar disorder. Researchers say the blood test can also assist in tailoring individual options for therapeutic interventions.

Source: Indiana University.

Worldwide, 1 in 4 people will suffer from a depressive episode in their lifetime.

‘Brain Glue’ Helps Repair Circuitry in Severe TBI

Summary: A newly developed reparative hydrogel, which researchers are dubbing “brain glue”, protects against loss of brain tissue following a TBI and can aid in functional neural repair.

Source: University of Georgia.

At a cost of $38 billion a year, an estimated 5.3 million people are living with a permanent disability related to traumatic brain injury in the United States today, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The physical, mental and financial toll of a TBI can be enormous, but new research from the University of Georgia provides promise.

Participate In Research

“A new research study conducted by the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences aims to evaluate how visual perception changes after taking psilocybin (aka ”magic mushrooms”) and how these changes relate to brain functions. We might learn how this drug could be used to treat certain mental health conditions. That is why it is essential to have more research to expand our knowledge base about the drug, psilocybin.

Our participants will be healthy adults from ages 25 to 65 years who have taken psilocybin previously. Study duration for participants will be 12 weeks. Over the course of 7 study visits, participants will undergo interviews, MRls, EEG, blood draws, and drug dosing sessions. Participants will be compensated after each visit.

Brain Cells Decide on Their Own When to Release Pleasure Hormone

Summary: Dopamine neurons largely rely on their own discharge to determine release rates of the hormone, researchers report.

Source: NYU Langone.

In addition to smoothing out wrinkles, researchers have found that the drug Botox can reveal the inner workings of the brain. A new study used it to show that feedback from individual nerve cells controls the release of dopamine, a chemical messenger involved in motivation, memory, and movement.

Tiny brains grown in 3D-printed bioreactor

Scientists from MIT and the Indian Institute of Technology Madras have grown small amounts of self-organizing brain tissue, known as organoids, in a tiny 3D-printed system that allows observation while they grow and develop. The work is reported in Biomicrofluidics.

Current technology for real-time observation of growing organoids involves the use of commercial culture dishes with many wells in a glass-bottomed plate placed under a microscope. The plates are costly and only compatible with specific microscopes. They do not allow for the flow or replenishment of a nutrient medium to the growing tissue.

Recent advances have used a technique known as microfluidics, where a nutrient medium is delivered through small tubes connected to a tiny platform or chip. These are, however, expensive and challenging to manufacture.

A Genetic Link Between Face and Brain Shape

Concretely: even with advanced technologies, it is impossible to predict someone’s behaviour based on their facial features. Peter Claes continues, Our results confirm that there is no genetic evidence for a link between someone’s face and that individual’s behaviour. Therefore, we explicitly dissociate ourselves from pseudoscientific claims to the contrary.

Claes said, To be able to analyse the MRI scans, we had to measure the brains shown on the scans. Our specific focus was on variations in the folded external surface of the brain – the typical ‘walnut shape’. We then went on to link the data from the image analyses to the available genetic information. This way, we identified 472 genomic locations that have an impact on the shape of our brain. 351 of these locations have never been reported before. To our surprise, we found that as many as 76 genomic locations predictive of the brain shape had previously already been found to be linked to the face shape. This makes the genetic link between face and brain shape a convincing one.

The team also found evidence that genetic signals that influence both brain and face shape are enriched in the regions of the genome that regulate gene activity during embryogenesis, either in facial progenitor cells or in the developing brain.

Scientists connect human brain to computer wirelessly for first time ever

The first wireless commands to a computer have been demonstrated in a breakthrough for people with paralysis.

The system is able to transmit brain signals at “single-neuron resolution and in full broadband fidelity”, say researchers at Brown University in the US.

A clinical trial of the BrainGate technology involved a small transmitter that connects to a person’s brain motor cortex.

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