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Category: neuroscience

Chemists determine structure of fuzzy coat that surrounds Tau proteins

One of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease is the clumping of proteins called Tau, which form tangled fibrils in the brain. The more severe the clumping, the more advanced the disease is.

The Tau protein, which has also been linked to many other neurodegenerative diseases, is unstructured in its normal state, but in the pathological state it consists of a well-ordered rigid core surrounded by floppy segments. These disordered segments form a “fuzzy coat” that helps determine how Tau interacts with other molecules.

MIT chemists have now shown, for the first time, they can use nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to decipher the structure of this fuzzy coat. They hope their findings will aid efforts to develop drugs that interfere with Tau buildup in the brain.

The Teen Brain Builds Synapse Hotspots Scientists Never Saw Before

The teenage brain isn’t just trimming connections—it’s secretly building powerful new neural hotspots that may shape the mind for life. Adolescence is a major turning point not only for social and physical development, but also for how the brain works. During these years, mental abilities such as

VTA monosynaptic connections by local glutamate and GABA neurons and their distinct roles in behavior

While the connectivity of VTA dopamine neurons is well studied, less is known about the connectivity of VTA glutamate and GABA neurons. Here, authors show that these neurons form local circuits to modulate reward, aversion, feeding and locomotion.

How a unique class of neurons may set the table for brain development

The way the brain develops can shape us throughout our lives, so neuroscientists are intensely curious about how it happens. A new study by researchers in The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT that focused on visual cortex development in mice, reveals that an important class of neurons follows a set of rules that while surprising, might just create the right conditions for circuit optimization.

During early brain development, multiple types of neurons emerge in the visual cortex (where the brain processes vision). Many are “excitatory,” driving the activity of brain circuits, and others are “inhibitory,” meaning they control that activity. Just like a car needs not only an engine and a gas pedal, but also a steering wheel and brakes, a healthy balance between excitation and inhibition is required for proper brain function.

During a “critical period” of development in the visual cortex, soon after the eyes first open, excitatory and inhibitory neurons forge and edit millions of connections, or synapses, to adapt nascent circuits to the incoming flood of visual experience. Over many days, in other words, the brain optimizes its attunement to the world.

This new tool could tell us how consciousness works

The technology has entered use in recent years, but it isn’t yet fully integrated into research. Now, two MIT researchers are planning experiments with it, and have published a new paper they term a “roadmap” for using the tool to study consciousness.

“Transcranial focused ultrasound will let you stimulate different parts of the brain in healthy subjects, in ways you just couldn’t before,” says Daniel Freeman, an MIT researcher and co-author of a new paper on the subject. “This is a tool that’s not just useful for medicine or even basic science, but could also help address the hard problem of consciousness. It can probe where in the brain are the neural circuits that generate a sense of pain, a sense of vision, or even something as complex as human thought.”

Transcranial focused ultrasound is noninvasive and reaches deeper into the brain, with greater resolution, than other forms of brain stimulation, such as transcranial magnetic or electrical stimulation.

Near-atomic imaging reveals promising target for ‘Brain on Fire’ condition

Scientists have identified a promising target for treatment of a devastating autoimmune disease affecting the brain.

The discovery could lead to the development of new therapies for a disease triggered by an attack on one of the key neurotransmitter receptors in the brain, the NMDA receptor. It also raises the potential for a blood test to detect a signal of the condition and enable earlier treatment with existing therapies.

The study from Oregon Health & Science University is published in Science Advances.

Memory Deficits in Cancer Patients With Serum NMDA Receptor Autoantibodies

Serum NMDAR autoantibodies are associated with isolated memory deficits in patients with cancer and might serve as a potential biomarker for cancer-related cognitive impairment.

ObjectivesNeuronal autoantibodies are linked to cognitive impairment in neurologic diseases and can be associated with tumors. In patients with cancer, IgA/IgM N-Methyl-D-Aspartate receptor (NMDAR) autoantibodies are most common, yet their clinical relevance is unclear. We assessed cognitive function in cancer patients with serum NMDAR autoantibodies and compared the results with matched controls.

Stem cells and adult neurogenesis

The brain has a remarkable ability to learn how to discriminate different stimuli. This video shows the work that is done within the LabEx Revive framework (www.revive.fr) in the laboratory directed by Prof. Pierre-Marie Lledo. Using mice and stem cells as a model, they have shown how adult neurogenesis is decreased or stimulated depending on different factors.

Learn more about this crucial area of stem cell research at: www.revive.fr, https://research.pasteur.fr/en/member… more about stem cells in general at www.eurostemcell.org.

Credits:
This video was made possible by the LabEx Revive (www.revive.fr), which is a selected project of the ANR \.

A Powerful New Neurotech Tool for Augmenting Your Mind | Conor Russomanno | TED

In an astonishing talk and tech demo, neurotechnologist Conor Russomanno shares his work building brain-computer interfaces that could enable us to control the external world with our minds. He discusses the quickly advancing possibilities of this field — including the promise of a \.

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