The interplay between microscopic and macroscopic dynamics in a brain-like network enhances the robustness of a state that optimizes the network’s performance.
Category: neuroscience – Page 88
General anesthesia reduces uniqueness of brain’s functional ‘fingerprint,’ study finds
Past psychology research suggests that different people display characteristic patterns of spontaneous thought, emotions and behaviors. These patterns make the brains of distinct individuals unique, to the point that neuroscientists can often tell them apart based on their neural activity.
Researchers at McGill University, University of Cambridge and other institutes recently carried out a study aimed at investigating how general anesthesia influences the unique neural activity signatures that characterize the brains of different people and animals.
Their findings, published in Nature Human Behavior, show that general anesthesia suppresses each brain’s unique functional connectivity patterns (i.e., the connections and communication patterns between different regions of the brain), both in humans and other species.
For the first time, scientists map the half-billion connections that allow mice to see
After nine years of painstaking work, an international team of researchers on Wednesday published a precise map of the vision centers of a mouse brain, revealing the exquisite structures and functional systems of mammalian perception.
To date, it is the largest and most detailed such rendering of neural circuits in a mammalian brain.
The map promises to accelerate the study of normal brain function: seeing, storing and processing memories, navigating complex environments. As importantly, it will deepen the study of brain diseases in anatomical and physiological terms—that is, in terms of the wiring and the relationships between circuits and signals. That’s especially promising for diseases that may arise from atypical wiring, such as autism and schizophrenia.
By re-creating neural pathway in dish, Stanford Medicine research may speed pain treatment
Stanford Medicine scientists have rebuilt, in laboratory glassware, the neural pathway that sends information from the body’s periphery to the brain, promising to aid research on pain disorders.
A cloaked human stem-derived neural graft capable of functional integration and immune evasion in rodent models
Immune evasion of human stem-cell-derived neural graft in rodent models.
Transplantation rejection is the main challenge in human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC)-derived therapies.
The researchers used hPSC line (termed H1-FS-8IM), engineered to overexpress 8 immunomodulatory transgenes, to enable transplant immune evasion.
They show in co-cultures, H1-FS-8IM PSC-derived midbrain neurons evaded rejection by T lymphocytes, natural killer cells, macrophages, and dendritic cells.
The authors also provide preclinical evidence of pluripotent stem cell line evading immune detection after neural engraftment in a humanized immune system mouse model and reversal of motor symptoms in Parkinsonian rats.
Incorporation of a suicide gene within the universal donor cell ensures safety for cell-based therapies. https://sciencemission.com/A-cloaked-human-stem-cell-derived-neural-graft
Scientists discover that fruit fly larvae can sense electric fields
While it may be an unfamiliar sensation to humans, electroreception is relatively commonplace in the animal kingdom. Sharks, bees and even the platypus all share this ability to detect electric fields in their environment.
Scientists at UC Santa Barbara have just added fruit flies to that list. A team of researchers led by Matthieu Louis found that fruit fly larvae can sense electric fields and navigate toward the negative electric potential using a small set of sensory neurons in their head.
The findings, published in Current Biology, present an immense opportunity. Fruit flies are arguably the most commonly used experimental animals, the basis for studies in fields as disparate as genetics, neurobiology and aging. Uncovering electroreception in fruit flies opens new avenues of research into the basis of this sense and could even lead to new techniques in bioengineering.
An Overview of the Effects of Lithium on Alzheimer’s Disease: A Historical Perspective
Lithium was introduced into psychiatric practice in the late nineteenth century and has since become a standard treatment for severe psychiatric disorders, particularly those characterized by psychotic agitation. It remains the most effective agent for managing acute mania and preventing relapses in bipolar disorder. Despite potential adverse effects, lithium’s use should be carefully considered relative to other treatment options, as these alternatives may present distinct safety and tolerability profiles. The World Health Organization classifies lithium salts as ‘essential’ medications for inclusion in global healthcare systems. Over the past two decades, the growing recognition of lithium’s efficacy—extending beyond mood stabilization to include reducing suicide risk and inducing neuroprotection—has led to its incorporation into clinical practice guidelines.
Nonlinear sound-sheet microscopy
Key to this innovation in ultrasound imaging—a method called Nonlinear sound sheet microscopy —was the discovery of a sound-reflecting probe. The author said: “This probe is a nanoscale gas-filled vesicle that lights up in ultrasound images, making cells visible. These vesicles have a protein shell and we can engineer them to tune their brightness in images. We used these gas vesicles to track cancer cells.”
In addition to revealing cells, the team used ultrasound and microbubbles as probes circulating in the blood stream to detect brain capillaries. The author said: “To our knowledge, nonlinear sound sheet microscopy is the first technique capable of observing capillaries in living brains. This breakthrough has tremendous potential to diagnose small vessel diseases in patients.” Since microbubble probes are already approved for human use, this technique could be deployed in hospitals in a few years.
Ultrasound is one of the most widely used imaging techniques in medicine, but up until recently it hardly played a role in imaging the tiniest structures of our bodies such as cells. “Clinical ultrasound, like the kind used for pregnancy scans, creates real-time images of body parts”, the first author explains. “It allows diagnosis of various diseases, or to monitor a developing baby. However, what is going on at a microscopic level remains hidden.”
Now, a team of scientists managed to image specifically labelled cells in 3D with ultrasound. For the first time, they imaged living cells inside whole organs across volumes the size of a sugar cube. In comparison, current light-based microscopes often require imaging of non-living samples, the author says. “The sample or organ of interest has to be removed and processed, and you lose the ability to track activity of cells over time”