brain cells

Obama to seek more Alzheimer's research money Associated Press

(The Journal of Visualized Experiments) In the US alone, at least 500,000 people suffer from Parkinson's disease, a neurological disorder that affects a person's ability to control his or her movement.

New technology from the University of Bonn in Germany lets researchers observe the development of the brain cells responsible for the disease.

Skin cells have been converted directly into cells which develop into the main components of the brain, by researchers in California.

A study that compared the brains of suicide victims to those of people who died suddenly from other causes found key differences in specific brain cells in the white matter of the brain.

Scientists say nicotine can rev up brain cells that normally signal people to stop eating when they're full, researchers report in the journal Science.

A Californian team claim they have succeeded in converting human skin cells directly into functioning brain cells.

(Tufts University, Health Sciences) The circadian system that controls sleep patterns is regulated by glial brain cells called astrocytes, according to a study published in Current Biology.

Neuroscientists from Tufts found that disruption of astrocyte function in fruit flies led to altered daily rhythms, an indication that these cells contribute to the control of circadian behavior.

These results provide, for the first time, a tractable genetic model to study the role of astrocytes in circadian rhythms and sleep disorders.

Scientists have shown how a single protein may trigger autistic spectrum disorders by stopping effective communication between brain cells.

(American Friends of Tel Aviv University) Prof. Amir Ayali at Tel Aviv University has successfully cultured brain cells taken from the desert locust to delve deeper into the workings of the mammalian neurosystem.

Easier to work with than human neurons, the use of these insect neurons allow the team to observe the neurons form a network, providing enormous benefits to researchers.

The cells are basic enough to be applicable to any system, including the human neurosystem, Prof. Ayali says.

(Cell Press) New research unravels a key molecular pathway underlying a neurodegenerative disorder that causes a devastating type of dementia.

The study, published by Cell Press in the November 18 issue of the journal Neuron, sheds light on the pathological processing of Progranulin, a protein that normally promotes the survival of brain cells but is reduced in some neurodegenerative diseases.