#Single protein causes Parkinson's disease and multiple system atrophy Typical of neurodegenerative disorders is disrupted the communication between brain cells together with a loss of cells in specific brain regions.
For some brain diseases this phenomenon is linked to a protein known as alpha-synuclein. The exact function of this protein remains unclear,
but it may play a role in the communication between brain cells. However, in the case of specific diseases, including Parkinson's disease, Multiple System Atrophy (MSA),
"When alpha-synuclein aggregates accumulate within a brain cell, they interfere with the normal functioning of the cell.
The protein aggregates disrupt the communication between brain cells, resulting in cell death. Up to now, nobody understood how aggregates of this single protein could induce different pathologies,
We injected these fibres separately into the brain and blood stream of rats. We noticed that the rats developed different symptoms:
A drug that counteracts the development of aggregates could be used to treat a whole range of brain diseases
#Scientists grow multiple brain structures and make connections between them Human stem cells can be differentiated to produce other cell types, such as organ cells, skin cells, or brain cells.
While organ cells, for example, can function in isolation, brain cells require synapses, or connectors, between cells and between regions of the brain.
In a new study published in Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience, researchers report successfully growing multiple brain structures
and forming connections between them in vitro, in a single culture vessel, for the first time.""We have developed a human pluripotent stem cell (hpsc)- based system for producing connections between neurons from two brain regions,
the neocortex and midbrain,"explained lead investigator Chun-Ting Lee, Phd, working in the laboratory of William J. Freed, Phd, of the Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Drug abuse, National institutes of health, Baltimore, MD.
Mesencephalic dopaminergic (mda) neurons and their connections to other neurons in the brain are believed to be related to disorders including drug abuse, schizophrenia, Parkinson's disease,
and perhaps eating disorders, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, Tourette's syndrome, and Lesch-Nyhan syndrome. However studying mda neurons and neocortical neurons in isolation does not reveal much data about how these cells actually interact in these conditions.
This new capability to grow and interconnect two types of neurons in vitro now provides researchers with an excellent model for further study."
Future experiments could employ modifications of this method to examine connections between any two brain regions
Even in the brain, where it is most common, 5fc is only present at around 10 parts per million or less.
The lack of uptake in the non-dividing adult brain tissue pointed to the fact that 5fc can be a stable modification:
which--like many neurodegenerative diseases--is characterized by an accumulation of misfolded mutant proteins that interfere with brain function.
As part of their study, the researchers introduced a new screening test that measures mutant huntingtin protein seeding in cerebrospinal fluid,
Through the device, patients with retinitis pigmentosa are able to see patterns of light that the brain learns to interpret as an image.
"This study was made possible by funding from Carl Bennet AB, VINNOVA, Karolinska Institutet, the Swedish Research Council, Swedish Brain Power, Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, the Royal
and brain stem atrophy and a general weakness of the muscles affecting locomotion, eye movement, swallowing and speech.
and cause a stroke if it lodges in a blood vessel in the brain. As such, understanding what controls the stability of plaques is extremely important."
#New information on brain development, fertility discovered The protein CEP63 is crucial for the correct division of brain stem cells.
This defect in brain growth is present in several neurodevelopmental diseases, including Seckel syndrome.""There are diagnostic tests for some of these kinds of pathologies that can be performed during pregnancy,
The scientists describe that this protein triggers the death of brain stem cells. This occurs because cells without CEP63 have delayed cell division,
"Cell death due to mutations in CEP63 is the main cause of the brain defects. When we prevent cell death by removing p53 from developing embryos,
the brain develops to its normal size, "explains Jens Lüders, head of the Microtubule Organization Lab. This finding paves the way to study
Also, a normal sized brain does not imply a functional brain, "warn the researchers.""Our next goal is to test the p53 inhibitors currently available in the same mouse models
helping convert sound into electrical signals that travel to the brain. The researchers tested gene therapy in two types of mutant mice.
In the recessive deafness model, gene therapy with TMC1 restored the ability of sensory hair cells to respond to sound--producing a measurable electrical current--and also restored activity in the auditory portion of the brainstem.
In the dominant deafness model, gene therapy with a related gene, TMC2, was successful at the cellular and brain level,
generating an electrical signal that travels to the brain and ultimately translates to hearing. Although the channel is made up of either TMC1 or TMC2
#Gene therapy advance thwarts brain cancer in rats Researchers funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging
and Bioengineering have designed a nanoparticle transport system for gene delivery that destroys deadly brain gliomas in a rat model,
--which by itself has no effect on cancer cells--into a compound that is toxic to actively dividing brain cancer cells.
Next, the gene therapy system was tested in live rats with brain gliomas. Because it is important that the nanoparticles spread throughout the entire tumor,
"The results provide the first demonstration of a successful non-viral nanomedicine method for HSVTK/ganciclovir treatment of brain cancer,"stated Green."
and evaluating the technology in additional brain cancer animal models.""In the future, the investigators envision that doctors would administer this therapy during the surgery commonly used to treat glioma in humans.
"Currently, most people with depression take medications that increase levels of the neurochemical serotonin in the brain.
Brain activity is determined by a balance of opposing excitatory and inhibitory communication between brain cells. Dr. Thompson and his team argue that in depression,
excitatory messages in some brain regions are not strong enough. Because there is no safe way to directly strengthen excitatory communication,
they work only in the parts of the brain that are essential for mood. The researchers tested the compounds in rats that were subjected to chronic mild stress that caused the animals to act in ways that resemble human depression.
"In tests on the rats'brains, the researchers found that the compounds rapidly increased the strength of excitatory communication in regions that were weakened by stress
Researchers said a protein product from CADM2 is involved in the short-term and long-term chemically mediated communication between brain cells
which are areas of the brain known to be involved in processing speed as well as in the developing brain."
and analytic resources, is significantly enhancing our ability to identify genes related to complex brain functions and disease."
#Discovery about brain protein causes rethink on development of Alzheimer's disease Researchers at the University of Melbourne have discovered that a protein involved in the progression of Alzheimer's disease also has properties that could be helpful for human health.
The discovery helps researchers better understand the complicated brain chemistry behind the development of Alzheimer's disease, a condition that affects hundreds of thousands of Australians.
may act as a sponge that safely binds a metal that can damage brain tissue when it's in excess.
This is because clumps of the protein are formed in brains of people with the illness. In the late 1990s, high levels of copper were discovered within these clumps.
"We know that the shorter form of beta amyloid is present in the diseased brain,
but we now know that it is abundant in healthy brains as well.""The small change in length makes a huge difference to its copper binding properties.
This will enable them to screen how much copper it holds in the brain, whether it safely escorts the copper from one place to another,
"As the amount of beta amyloid in the brain increases during Alzheimer's disease, the shorter form can also clump together
Other deadly cancers, including brain, pancreatic, ovarian, and colonic cancers also can have high levels of IL13RA2
#Injectable Brain Implant Spies on Individual Neurons A simple injection is now all it takes to wire up a brain.
A diverse team of physicists, neuroscientists and chemists has implanted mouse brains with a rolled-up, silky mesh studded with tiny electronic devices,
The implant has the potential to unravel the workings of the mammalian brain in unprecedented detail. think it great,
a very creative new approach to the problem of recording from large number of neurons in the brain, says Rafael Yuste, director of the Neuro technology Center at Columbia University in New york,
Neuroscientists still do not understand how the activities of individual brain cells translate to higher cognitive powers such as perception and emotion.
but the use of brain implants is limited currently by several disadvantages. So far, even the best technologies have been composed of relatively rigid electronics that act like sandpaper on delicate neurons.
Each strand is as soft as silk and as flexible as brain tissue itself. Free space makes up 95%of the mesh
how do you get that into an existing brain? says Lieber. The team answer was to tightly roll up a 2d mesh a few centimetres wide
and mingles with the tissue (see ugging the brain. Nanowires that poke out can be connected to a computer to take recordings
So far, the researchers have implanted meshes consisting of 16 electrical elements into two brain regions of anaesthetized mice
The team would also like to inject the device into the brains of newborn mice where it would unfold further as the brain grew,
and to add hairpin-shaped nanowire probes to the mesh to record electrical activity inside and outside cells.
who has developed a gelatin-based eedlefor delivering electrodes to the brain. But he remains sceptical of this technique:
in order to understand how the brain worksthis article is reproduced with permission and was published first on June 8, 2015 s
modeled on brain cell networks, that they claim can take any image and generate a caption
what brains are doing, Zemel says, particularly in terms of representing the outside world and in devoting ttentionto specific parts of a scene. t getting toward
#Important Link between the Brain and Immune system Found When the ancient Egyptians prepared a mummy they would scoop out the brain through the nostrils and throw it away.
While other organs were preserved and entombed, the brain was considered separately from the rest of the body,
and unnecessary for life or afterlife. Eventually, of course, healers and scientists realized that the three pounds of entangled neurons beneath our crania serve some rather critical functions.
Yet even now the brain is viewed often as somewhat divorced from the rest of the body;
and brain concerns the immune system. When exposed to foreign bacteria, viruses, tumors, and transplant tissue, the body stirs up a torrent of immune activity:
Except, that is, in the brain. Thought to be too vulnerable to host an onslaught of angry defensive cells,
the brain was assumed to be protected from this immune cascade. However research published last month reported a previously unknown line of communication between our brains
and immune systems, adding to a fast-growing body of research suggesting that the brain and body are connected more than previously thought.
The new work could have important implications for understanding and treating disorders of the brain.
As early as 1921 scientists recognized that the brain is different immunologically speaking. Outside tissue grafted into most parts of the body often results in immunologic attack;
tissue grafted into the central nervous system on the other hand sparks a far less hostile response. Thanks in part to the blood-brain barrier tightly packed cells lining the brain's vessels that let nutrients slip by,
but, for the most part, keep out unwanted invaders like bacteria and viruses the brain was considered long"immunologically privileged,
meaning it can tolerate the introduction of outside pathogens and tissues. The central nervous system was seen as existing separately from the peripheral immune system,
The brain privilege was considered also to be due to its lack of lymphatic drainage. The lymphatic system is our body's third and perhaps least considered set of vessels
But it was assumed that this doesn occur in the brain given its lack of a lymphatic network,
which is why the new findings represent a dogmatic shift in understanding how the brain interacts with the immune system.
and his group identified a previously undetected network of lymphatic vessels in the meninges the membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord that shuttle fluid and immune cells from the cerebrospinal fluid to a group of lymph nodes in the neck, the deep cervical lymph nodes.
and hence were curious about the role of meningeal immunity on brain function. By mounting whole mouse meninges and using neuroimaging the team noticed that T-cells were present in vessels separate from arteries and veins
confirming that the brain does in fact have a lymphatic system linking it directly the peripheral immune system. e stumbled upon these vessels completely by serendipity,
"For example MS, at least in some cases, is thought to result from autoimmune activity in response to an infection in the central nervous system and cerebrospinal fluid.
and transmission of a protein called amyloid in the brain. It could be that the amyloid isn't being cleared properly via these lymphatic vessels,
and that somehow improving their patency might help rid the brain of the pathologic protein.
that too much or too little drainage from the central nervous system to the immune system might contribute to brain disease.
and perhaps worsening of autoimmune disorders that affect the brain; and also that in light of the new findings the textbooks might need some revising t has become increasingly clear that the central nervous system is immune different rather than immune privileged,
It been clear for decades that there is some kind of relationship between the brain and the immune system.
anatomical structure facilitating this relationship suggests that the brain and body are intertwined intimately, and that the brain is not the citadel it was thought once to be. s
#US Congress Curbs NSA Surveillance, Sends Bill to Obama The US Senate passed landmark legislation Tuesday that ends the government's bulk telephone data dragnet,
#This Injectable Brain Implant Can Record and Stimulate Individual Neurons For those who need them most,
brain implants have made inspiring strides in recent years. One implant eases the involuntary tremors associated with Parkinson disease.
Most implants are still sizable relative to the brain, many are rigid, and all require invasive surgery.
"and spacious, allowing it to naturally incorporate into the brain and invite nearby cells to organize
and injected through a hole into the brain. This makes the procedure less invasive than current techniques.
and drapes onto the brain undulating surface. Nanowires connecting the mesh with computers in the outside world can either record brain activity
or stimulate nearby neurons. The team has tested 16-component implants on mice. They recorded and stimulated individual neurons,
the body not reject themfter five weeks. xisting techniques are crude relative to the way the brain is wired,
The potential power of less-invasive, more targeted brain implants and interfaces is significant. On the one hand, just as brain imaging technology has deepened our understanding of how the brain works,
implants measuring neurons in vivo can make that picture even more detailed and complete. Such research may provide valuable insights into the causes of brain disease and how the brain processes informationpening the door for reverse engineering certain processes in computers,
to make them more efficient and, when practical, to allow them to think creatively and make sense of the world more like us.
better brain implants may prove powerful therapeutic toolshether easing the symptoms of Parkinson or restoring a degree of freedom to those suffering paralysis. And more.)
Naam calls this the DOS era for brain implants. But as devices shrink, become less invasive
In findings that may lead to new treatments for cognitive disorders, researchers at MIT Picower Institute for Learning and Memory zero in on how the brain forms memories of
the Picower Professor of Neuroscience, showed that dramatic changes occur in the primary visual cortex when mice learn to distinguish novel from familiar visual stimuli.
Manipulations that prevented the changes in visual cortex also blocked memory formation. Impairments in detecting and recognizing familiar visual elements
and how the brain changes as learning occurs something that has been very difficult to achieve.
synaptic transmission was changed in the primary visual cortex. Preventing or reversing this synaptic plasticity in visual cortex left the animals unable to distinguish familiar and novel visual stimuli.
Previously, the primary visual cortex was seen as a irst responderto visual stimuli that quickly passes information along to higher-order brain regions for interpretation
and memory storage. he study points to the visual cortex as a tool of learning and memory in its own right,
capable of storing simple but fundamentally important memories, Cooke says. ur work provides great hope for the future as it suggests we may have the chance to directly observe neurons undergo lasting changes as a very simple
contrary to the dogma that the primary visual cortex is relatively immutable in adults, a form of visual experience induces synaptic modifications in this area,
who is also a member of Columbia Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute. ith SCAPE,
such as neurons firing in the rodent brain, crawling fruit fly larvae, and single cells in the zebrafish heart while the heart is actually beating spontaneouslyhis has not been possible until now.
even delivering neurons that flash as they fire in the living brain. Yet imaging techniques that can capture these dizzying dynamic processes have lagged behind.
Hillman and her collaborators have used already the system to observe firing in 3d neuronal dendritic trees in superficial layers of the mouse brain.
As a member of the new Zuckerman Institute and the Kavli Institute for Brain science at Columbia, Hillman is working with a wide range of collaborators,
and Kimara Targoff (assistant professor of pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics), all of whom are starting to use the SCAPE system in their research. eciphering the functions of brain
brain tissues. This methodological advance offers the potential to unlock the secrets of brain activity in ways barely imaginable a few years ago.
Hillman technology is available for licensing from Columbia Technology Ventures and has attracted already interest from multiple companies
#Single brain peptide could be the clue to improving fertility post-stress Infertility is a growing problem in the developed world,
In Canada, nearly 75,000 people have MS. The brain is protected normally from attacks by the blood-brain barrier.
They attack the brain by destroying the myelin sheath that protects neurons, resulting in decreased transmission of nerve impulses,
Specifically, stem cell scientists at Mcmaster can now directly convert adult human blood cells to both central nervous system (brain
In extreme conditions, pain or numbness is perceived by the brain using signals sent by these peripheral nerves. he problem is that unlike blood, a skin sample or even a tissue biopsy,
me great pleasure to be part of the solution for improving paralyzed patientslives. part of the brain that controls intuitive movement planning could be key to improving motor control in paralyzed patients with prostheticsneural prosthetic devices
implanted in the brain movement center, the motor cortex, can allow patients with amputations or paralysis to control the movement of a robotic limb one that can be connected
Now, by implanting neuroprosthetics in a part of the brain that controls not the movement directly but rather our intent to move,
recognizing someone you know) that is first processed in the lower visual areas of the cerebral cortex. The signal then moves up to a high-level cognitive area known as the posterior parietal cortex (PPC.
Here, the initial intent to make a movement is formed. These intentions are transmitted then to the motor cortex, through the spinal cord,
and on to the arms and legs where the movement is executed. High spinal cord injuries can cause quadriplegia in some patients
because movement signals cannot get from the brain to the arms and legs. As a solution, earlier neuroprosthetic implants used tiny electrodes to detect
the motor cortex. The recorded signal is carried then via wire bundles from the patient brain to a computer,
where it is translated into an instruction for a robotic limb. However, because the motor cortex normally controls many muscles,
the signals tend to be detailed and specific. The Caltech group wanted to see if the simpler intent to shake the hand could be used to control the prosthetic limb,
Andersen and his colleagues wanted to improve the versatility of movement that a neuroprosthetic can offer by recording signals from a different brain region the PPC. he PPC is earlier in the pathway
Our future studies will investigate ways to combine the detailed motor cortex signals with more cognitive PPC signals to take advantage of each area specializations. n the clinical trial,
And that is exactly what we would expect from this area of the brain. his better understanding of the PPC will help the researchers improve neuroprosthetic devices of the future,
Andersen says. hat we have here is a unique window into the workings of a complex high-level brain area as we work collaboratively with our subject to perfect his skill in controlling external devices.?
Direct brain control of robots and computers has the potential to dramatically change the lives of many people,
says that advancements in prosthetics like these hold promise for the future of patient rehabilitation. e at Rancho are dedicated to advancing rehabilitation through new assistive technologies, such as robotics and brain-machine interfaces.
The key is to be able to provide particular types of sensory feedback from the robotic arm to the brain.
The newest devices under development by Andersen and his colleagues feature a mechanism to relay signals from the robotic arm back into the part of the brain that gives the perception of touch. he reason we are developing these devices is that normally a quadriplegic patient couldn,
which is inspired loosely by the neural circuitry of the human brain when it perceives and interacts with the world.
researchers from the RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics demonstrated in mice that traces of old memories do remain in the amnestic brain,
led by Susumu Tonegawa, Director of the RIKEN Brain science Institute in Saitama, Japan, was interested in how stable memories are formed in the brain and whether memories
whose storage was disrupted by chemically inducing retrograde amnesia, could still be recalled. rain researchers have been divided for decades on
during the training period, brain connections between unique memory engrams in neighboring brain structures may be strengthened
#Injectable electronics New system holds promise for basic neuroscience, treatment of neurodegenerative diseasesit a notion that might be pulled from the pages of science-fiction novel electronic devices that can be injected directly into the brain,
if you want to study the brain or develop the tools to explore the brain-machine interface,
you need to stick something into the body. When releasing the electronics scaffold completely from the fabrication substrate,
'hough not the first attempts at implanting electronics into the brain deep brain stimulation has been used to treat a variety of disorders for decades the nano-fabricated scaffolds operate on a completely different scale. xisting techniques are crude relative
to the way the brain is wired, Lieber explained. hether it a silicon probe or flexible polymershey cause inflammation in the tissue that requires periodically changing the position or the stimulation.
researchers hope to better understand how the brain and other tissues react to the injectable electronics over longer periods.
according to Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience reporthuman stem cells can be differentiated to produce other cell types, such as organ cells, skin cells, or brain cells.
brain cells require synapses, or connectors, between cells and between regions of the brain. In a new study published in Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience,
researchers report successfully growing multiple brain structures and forming connections between them in vitro, in a single culture vessel,
for the first time. e have developed a human pluripotent stem cell (hpsc)- based system for producing connections between neurons from two brain regions,
the neocortex and midbrain, explained lead investigator Chun-Ting Lee, Ph d.,working in the laboratory of William J. Freed, Ph d.,of the Intramural Research Program,
National Institute on Drug abuse, National institutes of health, in Baltimore. Mesencephalic dopaminergic (mda) neurons and their connections to other neurons in the brain are believed to be related to disorders including drug abuse, schizophrenia, Parkinson disease,
and perhaps eating disorders, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, Tourette syndrome, and Lesch-Nyhan syndrome. However, studying mda neurons and neocortical neurons in isolation does not reveal much data about how these cells actually interact in these conditions.
Future experiments could employ modifications of this method to examine connections between any two brain regions
more effective Brain surgery is famously difficult for good reason: When removing a tumor, for example, neurosurgeons walk a tightrope as they try to take out as much of the cancer as possible
while keeping crucial brain tissue intact and visually distinguishing the two is often impossible. Now Johns Hopkins researchers report they have developed an imaging technology that could provide surgeons with a color-coded map of a patient brain showing
which areas are and are not cancer. A summary of the research appears June 17 in Science Translational Medicine. s a neurosurgeon,
thought OCT might provide a solution to the problem of separating brain cancers from other tissue during surgery.
Eventually, the researchers figured out that a second special property of brain cancer cells that they lack the so-called myelin sheaths that coat healthy brain cells had a greater effect on the OCT readings than did density.
Once they had found the characteristic OCT ignatureof brain cancer, the team devised a computer algorithm to process OCT data and,
the team has tested the system on fresh human brain tissue removed during surgeries and in surgeries to remove brain tumors from mice.
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