Health News

Supplement treats schizophrenia in mice, restores healthy ‘dance’ and structure of neurons

A simple dietary supplement reduces behavioral symptoms in mice with a genetic mutation that causes schizophrenia. After additional experiments, including visualizing the fluorescently stained dancing edge of immature brain cells, researchers concluded that the supplement likely protects proteins that build neurons’ cellular skeletons. The supplement betaine was first isolated from sugar beets and is often […]

Health News

Latest Neuropixels probes can track neurons over weeks

A new generation of miniature recording probes can track the same neurons inside tiny mouse brains over weeks—and even months. The new tools build on the success of the original Neuropixels probes released in 2017 and currently used in more than 400 labs. Neuropixels 2.0 are much smaller—about a third the size of their predecessors. […]

Health Problems

Alstrom Syndrome Research

Alstrom syndrome has been the focus of attention, among other ciliopathies, in research on the biological functions of cilia as well as the best mode of treatment of these disorders. The ALMS1 gene has been associated with this condition. Physiological Roles of ALMS1 Protein The ALMS1 gene has been the locus of research because of […]

Health Problems

Neurons promote growth of brain tumor cells

In a current paper published in the journal Nature, Heidelberg-based researchers and physicians describe how neurons in the brain establish contact with aggressive glioblastomas and thus promote tumor growth / New tumor activation mechanism provides starting points for clinical trials Neurons transmit their signals to each other via synapses, fine cell projections with terminals that […]

Health Problems

Artificial intelligence singles out neurons faster than a human can

Biomedical engineers at Duke University have developed an automated process that can trace the shapes of active neurons as accurately as human researchers can, but in a fraction of the time. This new technique, based on using artificial intelligence to interpret video images, addresses a critical roadblock in neuron analysis, allowing researchers to rapidly gather […]

Health Problems

Using an anti-smoking drug to control neurons

An anti-smoking drug now has a new job—as a chemical switch to turn select neurons on or off. The drug latches on to designer proteins, called ion channels, that control whether or not a neuron will send a message. By putting those proteins only in certain groups of neurons, scientists can target modulation of specific […]