Biology Neuroscience

Researchers led by Osaka University developed a novel fluorescent sensor to detect and monitor levels of the neuropeptide oxytocin, also known as the “happy hormone.” The OT sensor facilitated the successful measurement of OT dynamics in the brains of living animals and may serve as a foundation for the development of therapeutics for the treatment of neurological disorders such as autism and schizophrenia.

The Memorandum of Understanding signed between The Ngee Ann Kongsi and Duke-NUS Medical School emphasises the need for more research as treatment and prevention options are currently limited for conditions such as Parkinson’s disease.

Research shows that natural catastrophes may trigger or exacerbate attacks of incapacitating migraine in disaster victims.

A baby’s cry is a form of communication used to attract attention from adult caregivers, and every baby cries in a similar but distinct way. An international research team has studied the vocal behavior of baby mice, called pups, to determine how the age of the father affects the pups’ vocal communication and body weight development. Their study will help them better understand vocal development in human babies.

Human brains learn patterns over time and we don’t even realize it. New insight into how this works could improve learning and other cognitive processes.

New research using genome editing technology has allowed scientists to create a model and assess a gene mutation associated with neuropsychiatric disorders in humans. The study has revealed how the mutation functions in the brain and affects anxiety and sociality.

A novel molecular pathway involving cell signalling proteins in the brain may explain how stress affects neuropsychiatric lupus with diffuse neuropsychological manifestations.

Hokkaido University researchers have shown how chronic pain leads to maladaptive anxiety in mice, with implications for treatment of chronic pain-related psychiatric disorders in humans.

Researchers at Kanazawa University elucidate in Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences how small biocontainers enclosed by membranes are involved in a disease called ATTRv amyloidosis.

A research group has revealed that amyloid-β (Aβ) detected in blood is secreted from peripheral tissues (pancreas, adipose tissue, skeletal muscle, liver, etc.) that are sensitive to glucose and insulin. Also, that Aβ secreted from peripheral tissues acts as a regulator on pancreatic β-cells to suppress insulin secretion. The results of this study indicate that blood Aβ levels fluctuate significantly with diet, and special care should be taken when using blood samples as a diagnostic marker for Alzheimer's disease, such as taking blood samples during fasting.

A research team led by the National Institute for Physiological Sciences and joined by Hokkaido University explored the role of pain neurons in the regulation of endotoxic death. They found that peptide named Reg3γ acts as a pain neuron-enriched brain-targeted hormone that protects the host from endotoxic death.

Scientists develop a method to genetically label neurons with a single gene of interest in mice by combining the anterograde transsynaptic spread of adeno-associated virus serotype 1 (AAV1) with intersectional gene expression. In two distinct circuits: the retina/primary visual cortex to the superior colliculus and the bilateral motor cortex to the dorsal striatum, injections of AAV1 expressing either Cre or Flpo recombinases and the Cre/Flpo double-dependent AAV into two upstream regions and the downstream region, respectively, were used to label postsynaptic neurons receiving inputs from the two upstream regions.

Our brain maps out our body to facilitate accurate motor control. For a century, the body map has been thought to have applied to all types of motor actions. Now, a research group has revealed that the body relies on multiple maps based on the choice of motor system.

Novel design of brain chip implant allows for measuring neuronal activity while simultaneously delivering drugs to the implant site

Using the lamprey, researchers from Japan analyzed the photosensory mechanism of the pineal organ, also called the pineal gland, in non-mammalian vertebrates and discovered a novel mechanism of pineal color discrimination (two-cell system) in which two types of photoreceptor cells, each containing two different opsins, are used to detect color. This discovery may provide insight into the evolution of color detection in other animals, including color vision in humans.

Researchers from the University of Tsukuba and Kyoto University find that capillary blood flow in the brain, which is important for delivering oxygen and nutrients and removing waste products, is increased in mice during the dream-active phase of sleep.

Recreating major pathological features of Parkinson’s disease in a lab-grown, human mini-brain will help researchers to explore new treatments. This is the first time that Lewy bodies, a hallmark of Parkinson’s disease in patients’ brains, have been produced in the laboratory, offering new insights into the disease.

Neuroscientists develop a new approach to better understand the neural mechanism underlying deductive and inductive reasoning

Experiments conducted on genetically modified mice clarify the role of a protein in regulating properties of specific hippocampal neural circuits

Chuo University and Hokkaido University researchers have found that infants take less than a second to completely process visual information and have the same temporal limitation in processing visual information as seen in adults.

An ‘eat-me’ signal displayed on cell surfaces requires activation of a lipid-scrambling protein by a nuclear protein fragment.

Through a series of prosocial choice tasks, researchers reveal prosocial and antisocial characteristics in male convict cichlid fish. The fish distinguish between female breeding partners, unknown females, and rival males by adjusting their actions to either provide food for both them and the females or avoid providing food for the rival males.

Researchers reveal the path of information received by the hippocampus. Using optogenetics during large-scale recordings of rat subiculum, they discovered that the subiculum distributes information from the hippocampus to 4 downstream regions of the brain. They observed that the theta and sharp-wave/ripples in the subiculum controlled information transmission with millisecond precision according to the target region. This provides the foundation for a comprehensive understanding of the hippocampal memory system.

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (SCA3), also known as Machado-Joseph Disease (MJD), describes the most common form of dominantly inherited ataxia in many populations worldwide, including Hong Kong and mainland China. SCA3 or MJD patients often present problems with gait and balance, blurred vision, and speech difficulties. The symptoms are progressive, and patients may eventually decline into a bed-ridden state. To date, SCA3 or MJD remains an incurable disorder. Collaborating with the University of Oxford, Professor Ho Yin Edwin Chan’s research team from the School of Life Sciences of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) recently unveiled the counteracting relationship between pre-mRNA-processing factor 19 (Prpf19) and exocyst complex component 7 (Exoc7) in controlling the degradation of disease protein and neurodegeneration of the rare hereditary ataxia. The research findings have been published in the prestigious scientific journal, Cell Death & Disease.

New study shows that uneven accumulation of amyloid β is linked to olfactory dysfunction or partial loss of smell, an early symptom of Alzheimer’s disease

Researchers from the University of Tsukuba have discovered a group of neurons in the mouse brainstem that control muscle tone. Inhibiting these neuronal cells caused mice to move during REM sleep, reminiscent of REM sleep behavior disorders. These neurons were also responsible for episodes of cataplexy in a mouse model of narcolepsy; inhibiting them reduced the number of cataplexic bouts. These circuits could thus be a new target for treating these sleep disorders.

A new mechanism of action by which misfolded proteins cause indirect damage to neurons

DGIST scientists are learning more about the molecular processes involved in the formation of well-communicating nerve fibres.

Scientists at Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology, Korea, show that it is possible to distinguish between left-handed and right-handed people by noninvasively monitoring just their brain activity during passive tactile stimulation. These results are key in haptic research (the study of sensory systems) and have various important implications for brain–computer interfaces, augmented reality, and even artificial intelligence.

Running is a fundamental mode of human movement that most of us perform effortlessly without conscious thought. Some may run regularly for exercise, or even undergo serious, professional training for completing marathons. This apparent ease of running belies the enormous biomechanical complexity of running, the coordinated control of which is accomplished by an intricate neuronal network in the brain and spinal cord.