A team of researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Michigan Medical School reports today in the JCI Insight that a subset of immune B cells, known as CD19+IgM+ B cells, can delay the onset of type 1 diabetes in a mouse model of the condition. These findings open an opportunity to […]
Early sleep loss accelerates Alzheimer’s pathology in mice
Lack of sleep during adolescence and early adulthood accelerates Alzheimer’s disease (AD)-related tau pathology, finds a study of male and female mice published in JNeurosci. These results support the importance of establishing healthy sleep habits in early adult life to help stave off progression of neurodegenerative diseases. Using a mouse model of tauopathy, Sigrid Veasey […]
The immune system of the alpaca reveals a potential treatment for cancer
The natural world often provides the answer to unsolved medical problems. On this occasion, the solution to a challenge posed by cancer has come about from the immune system of camelids. A study headed by the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), in Belgium, describes a number of […]
Neuroscience of envy: Activated brain region when others are rewarded revealed
How we feel about our own material wellbeing and status in society is largely determined by our evaluation of others. However, the neurological underpinnings to how we monitor the complex social environment under conditions of limited access to resources and whether we feel happy or disappointed with our lot have remained unclear. In a new […]
BPA replacements in plastics cause reproductive problems in lab mice
Twenty years ago, researchers made the accidental discovery that the now infamous plastics ingredient known as bisphenol A or BPA had inadvertently leached out of plastic cages used to house female mice in the lab, causing a sudden increase in chromosomally abnormal eggs in the animals. Now, the same team is back to report in […]
BPA replacements in plastics cause reproductive problems in lab mice
Twenty years ago, researchers made the accidental discovery that the now infamous plastics ingredient known as bisphenol A or BPA had inadvertently leached out of plastic cages used to house female mice in the lab, causing a sudden increase in chromosomally abnormal eggs in the animals. Now, the same team is back to report in […]
Immune cells destroy healthy brain connections, diminish cognitive function in obese mice
Obesity leads to cognitive impairment by activating microglial cells, which consume otherwise functional synapses in the hippocampus, according to a study of male mice published in JNeurosci. The research suggests that microglia may be a potential therapeutic target for one of the lesser known effects of this global health epidemic on the brain. Nearly two […]
Longer daily fasting times improve health and longevity in mice
Increasing time between meals made male mice healthier overall and live longer compared to mice who ate more frequently, according to a new study published in the Sept. 6, 2018 issue of Cell Metabolism. Scientists from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) at the National Institutes of Health, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the Pennington […]
Brain Implant Puts the Brakes on Epileptic Seizures in Mice
THURSDAY, Aug. 30, 2018 — Experiments in mice have shown that an implanted electronic device in the brain can detect — and deliver drugs to stop — impending epileptic seizures. Potentially, a similar device might help people with epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease and brain tumors who have failed standard treatment. So far, the technology is in […]
Antidepressant restores youthful flexibility to aging inhibitory neurons in mice
A new study provides fresh evidence that the decline in the capacity of brain cells to change, called “plasticity,” rather than a decline in total cell number may underlie some of the sensory and cognitive declines associated with normal brain aging. Scientists at MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and memory show that inhibitory interneurons in […]