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The same technique reproduced in animal models has been shown to permit the production of fully functional neurons, as demonstrated in some transplants in the hippocampus of mice
The transformation of embryonic stem cells in a particular type of neurons, and in subjects affected by Alzheimer’s disease die, succeeded for the first time researchers at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, who sign about an article in the journal Stem Cells.
The cells in question are the basal forebrain cholinergic neurons of the hippocampus and allow you to recover memories in the brain, a capacity that is already heavily compromised in the early stages of Alzheimer’s. Because of a population of cells is relatively small, their loss has a devastating effect on memory performance.
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The formation of long-term memory depends, unlike the short, the synthesis of new proteins to which they contribute essential astrocytes
Astrocytes, until recently considered a mere support structure for the network of neurons, have recently been observed to be important for information processing and for adjusting the strength of the synapses that connect neurons to each other.
Now a new study directed by Italy’s Cristina Alberini, currently in force at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, showed that they are also essential in the formation of long-term memory and that their malfunction leads to the phenomena of amnesia.
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The information stored in the pattern of activity can be lost as a result of small errors with a surprisingly high speed
The dynamics underlying the transmission of signals in the brain is very chaotic: this is the conclusion of a study of the Max-Planck-Institut for dynamic and self-organization at the University of Gottingen and the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience in Göttingen in riferitoin which is an article in the journal Physical Review Letters .
Within the same research, it was possible to calculate, for the first time, the speed with which the information stored in activity patterns of neurons in the cerebral cortex is downloaded, is surprisingly high.
The brain is known, encoding information in the form of electrical impulses. Each of the 100 billion neurons interconnected acts as both a receiver and a transmitter and any information processed by the brain generates a characteristic pattern of activity. This indicates that the neuron sends an impulse to neighboring neurons, in other words, which neuron is active and when. The pattern of activity is actually a type of communication protocol that records the exchange of information between neurons.
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A molecule has the capacity to stimulate production of new neurons and restore cognitive abilities impaired by aging.
Experiments have been conducted to date on mice and rats. But after testing 1,000 chemicals suspected of having effects on the growth of neurons , Andrew Pieper and his colleagues at the University of Dallas and Atlanta think they have found a compound , named P7C3 , endowed with interesting properties.
The compound has the capacity to boost the synthesis of new neurons in an area of the brain ( the dentate gyrus ) of mice that lost the ability to regenerate because of genetic mutations created in the laboratory. Such mice are unable to learn and have severe cognitive delays . The isolated substance restores both the production of neurons in their dentate gyrus , and learning abilities .
The regenerative molecule was tested to see if it protects against effects of aging . Old rats , suffering from cognitive decline , have received the drug in their diet and were tested in the water maze , involving remembering the location of a platform hidden beneath the surface of the water. After two months, they showed an increase of 50 percent of their performance compared to untreated rats.
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Rui Costa , principal investigator of the Neuroscience program Champalimaud Foundation , in collaboration with Xin Jin National Institutes of Health United States , has just published an article [ 1] in Nature which shows that the activity of some neurons the basal ganglia , areas of gray matter located within the cerebrum, may report such as a traffic light, the beginning and end of an action .
This brain activity is essential for learning and executing a sequence of specific actions , tasks for which patients suffering from Parkinson’s disease or Huntington often encounter difficulties .
Rui Costa said that a patient with Parkinson’s can be difficult to start a simple action such as the act of walking . If the patient is helped , he manages to work perfectly , but then he meets trouble stopping , and will then continue to walk. Neurons that Rui Costa and Xin Jin studied are associated with the ability to initialize and finalize this type of task.
This discovery is the fruit of three years of research on rats. It allows to speculate on a possible mechanism that would explain why patients with Parkinson’s and Huntington , who lost neurons in these brain areas , signaling have difficulty learning and carrying out specific tasks . The next step for this team will identify what distinguishes the cells ‘give the green light ‘ from their neighbors who ” give the red light ‘using such molecular markers .
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A research team composed of scientists from the Cajal Institute in Madrid and the Institute of Genetics and Biophysics in Naples , has discovered a new population of neurons hitherto unknown , which is capable of generating the cerebral center of emotions . These neurons have the particularity to express a gene called Orthopedia or OTP . Through this gene , these cells are able to leave the hypothalamus [1 ] , from which they originate, and move to forebrain [2 ] where they mix with other neurons already in place , forming the Amygdala brain [ 3] , the brain region which are regulated emotions such as anger , anxiety or fear.
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A recent study by researchers at the Institute of Experimental Medicine, Hungarian Academy of Sciences has revealed the molecular mechanisms involved during the learning process . This study was published in the journal Science .
Historically, neurologists agree that the learning process based on strengthening connections between neurons . Many studies have revealed that synapses , the connections between neurons , grow in life , which constitute the foundations of learning mechanisms. However , no study has identified the mechanisms by which nerve cells send information they want to strengthen synapses .
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Since its development in 1992, the technique of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is regarded as the tool of choice for the study of brain activity. It helps locate areas in the brain activated by observing the effect BOLD (Blood Oxygen Level Dependent).
This effect is as follows: in areas of the brain where neurons are activated, the hemoglobin in the blood releases large amounts of oxygen needed for the functioning of neurons. Therefore, in these particular areas is largely deoxygenated hemoglobin. In addition, blood flow is greater in areas of brain activity in areas at rest. The MRI can detect these changes, called “hemodynamic” and thus detect which brain areas are active at a given time.By alternating periods of rest periods and motor activity, sensory stimulation or memorial, it is possible to detect the brain areas that are active during a given activity.
This technique has many advantages: it is non-invasive, has better temporal and spatial resolutions as Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and does not require the use of biological tracers complex and costly to produce. However, as it does not directly measure brain activity, but physiological events associated with it, uncertainty remains about the reliability of results. The brain is a complex system and the correlation between the activation of neurons and the local BOLD effect has so far not yet been proven.
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Spanish investigators have uncovered the role that two genes associated with schizophrenia, Nrg1 and ErbB4, play in the cerebral cortex. The finding, published in the journal Nature, Will reveal more about the causes of this disease and search for more effective drugs to combat it. These genes are essential for establishing inhibitory connections between neurons in the cortex.
Little is yet known about the causes of schizophrenia, although scientific evidence focuses its appearance in the simultaneous alteration of several genes, such as Nrg1 and ErbB4, whose mutation in mice produces changes similar to those described in schizophrenic patients.
The study, conducted by researchers Oscar Marín Beatriz Rico and the Neuroscience Institute (joint center of the University Miguel Hernández de Elche and the CSIC), reveals that these two genes have a key role in developing the connections of the interneurons inhibitors of the cerebral cortex (whose mission is to modulate and synchronize the activity of principal neurons in the cortex).
“The cortex is the most complex of the brain responsible for our reasoning ability, language and social behavior,” said Beatriz Rico. Its operation depends on neuronal connections, the synapses, which can be excitatory or inhibitory, according to activate or stop the neuronal activity.
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Researchers at the University of Cadiz (UCA) have observed that the use of an inhibitor of ADAM-17 protein can increase neuronal regeneration. The next objective is to demonstrate that inhibition of this protein in vivo favors the generation of new neurons and helps the brain recover from injury.
In the area of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Cadiz, a group of six researchers led by Carmen Estrada has more than four years studying in adult mammalian brain neurogenesis, ie the formation of new neurons from stem cells. The purpose, to find some additional mechanism to facilitate the treatment of pathologies of the central nervous system (CNS), which occur as a result of neuronal death.
“We talked about socio-economic important diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and the effects of strokes or neuronal loss severe head trauma,” the researchers explain. Result of its investigations, the team has managed to use agents that inhibit ADAM-17 protein for the preparation of a drug that increases neuronal regeneration of the central nervous system.
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Experiments have been conducted to date on mice and rats. But after testing 1,000 chemicals suspected of having effects on the growth of neurons , Andrew Pieper and his colleagues at the University of Dallas and Atlanta think they have found a compound , named P7C3 , endowed with interesting properties.