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A mechanism that alters the regulation of calcium in cells could be involved...

The calcium ion Ca2+ regulates an enormous number of cellular processes. Control of Ca2+ is therefore crucial and is achieved by precise regulation of proteins that allow the ion to move between...

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Readying the neural network

Synapse, the name for the signal-receiving site on a neuron, comes from the Greek word for contact. Neuroscientists used to maintain that neurons form one-to-one relationship to contact one another....

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The ryanodine receptor—calcium channel in muscle cells

Whenever muscles contract, so-called ryanodine receptors come into play. Calcium ions, which are ultimately responsible for the contraction of muscle cells, are released from storage organs and flow...

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'Radiogenetics' seeks to remotely control cells and genes

It's the most basic of ways to find out what something does, whether it's an unmarked circuit breaker or an unidentified gene—flip its switch and see what happens. New remote-control technology may...

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Here's how the prion protein protects us

The cellular prion protein (PrPC) has the ability to protect the brain's neurons. Although scientists have known about this protective physiological function for some time, they were lacking detailed...

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Tackling neurotransmission precision

Behind all motor, sensory and memory functions, calcium ions are in the brain, making those functions possible. Yet neuroscientists do not entirely understand how fast calcium ions reach their targets...

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Muscle weakness studies suggest possible therapeutic strategies

A recently published study by a University of Colorado School of Medicine researcher and her colleagues suggests potential therapies for central core disease, a condition that can delay development of...

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Why menthol chills your mouth when it's not actually cold

Try putting an ice-cube in your mouth. The insides of your mouth and tongue instantly turn numb. Hold it in still and you will feel pain. Now try sucking on peppermint. The mint itself is at room...

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Nerve cells borrow a trick from their synapses to dispose of garbage

Genetic defects affecting tiny channels in human nerve cells lead to several neurological diseases that result from aberrant nerve transmission, such as episodic ataxia, absence epilepsy, and...

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'Lightning bolts' in the brain show learning in action

Researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center have captured images of the underlying biological activity within brain cells and their tree-like extensions, or dendrites, in mice that show how their brains...

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Breast milk calcium mystery revealed

Breakthrough research at the University of Queensland has unlocked a mysterious process essential to breastfeeding.

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Revolutionizing the revolutionary technology of optogenetics

The revolution that optogenetics technology has brought to biology—neuroscience in particular—could be transformed all over again if a new project getting underway at Brown University and Central...

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How neurons remember: A Calcium-dependent mechanism of neuronal information...

Research findings obtained over the past decades increasingly indicate that stored memories are coded as permanent changes of neuronal communciation and the strength of neuronalinterconnections. The...

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Tracking down the causes of Alzheimer's

Genes are not only important for regular memory performance, but also for the development of Alzheimer's disease. Researchers at the University of Basel now identified a specific group of genes that...

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Researchers discover an epilepsy switch

Scientists at the University of Bonn and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel) have decoded a central signal cascade associated with epileptic seizures. If the researchers blocked a central...

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Blocking transfer of calcium to cell's powerhouse selectively kills cancer cells

Inhibiting the transfer of calcium ions into the cell's powerhouse is specifically toxic to cancer cells, according to an article published this week in Cell Reports by researchers from the Perelman...

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Calcium controls sleep duration in mice

University of Tokyo and RIKEN researchers have identified seven genes responsible for causing mice to stay awake or fall asleep based on a theoretical model of sleep and on experiments using 21...

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Some sunscreen ingredients may disrupt sperm cell function

Many ultraviolet (UV)-filtering chemicals commonly used in sunscreens interfere with the function of human sperm cells, and some mimic the effect of the female hormone progesterone, a new study finds....

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Calcium channels team up to activate excitable cells

Voltage-gated calcium channels open in unison, rather than independently, to allow calcium ions into and activate excitable cells such as neurons and muscle cells, researchers with UC Davis Health...

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Guarding the gatekeepers

Information flow in cells relies on calcium as a key agent in several signalling pathways. Calcium dependent signalling is crucial in nearly every aspect of life - muscle movement, immune reactions,...

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Scientists shed new light on the role of calcium in learning and memory

While calcium's importance for our bones and teeth is well known, its role in neurons—in particular, its effects on processes such as learning and memory—has been less well defined.

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Research team may have observed building blocks of memories in the brain

(Medical Xpress)—A team of researchers working at Aix-Marseille University in France has observed what they believe are the building blocks of memories in a mouse brain. In their paper published in the...

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How neurons talk to each other

Neurons are connected to each other through synapses, sites where signals are transmitted in the form of chemical messengers. Reinhard Jahn, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical...

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Scientists find sensor that makes synapses fast

Synapses, the connections between neurons, come in different flavors, depending on the chemical they use as transmitter. Signal transmitters, or neurotransmitters, are released at the synapse after...

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Researchers connect molecular function to high blood pressure, diseases

By changing one small portion of a stimulus that influences part of one molecule's function, engineers and researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have opened the door for more insight into...

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Unexpected role for calcium ion channel protein revealed

A new study published in Nature Communications and co-authored by Northwestern Medicine scientists shows how two proteins of the Ca2+ release-activated Ca2+ (CRAC) channel family interact with each...

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Fluctuation in the concentration of calcium ions contributes to brain shape

The first step in shaping the brain is that the neural plate, a sheet-like cell layer, curves to form the neural tube. Assistant Professor Makoto Suzuki of the National Institute for Basic Biology,...

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A docking site per calcium channel cluster

A study co-led by Ryuichi Shigemoto and Alain Marty concludes that a single docking site may use a single cluster of calcium channels, and that both the number of docking sites and the number of...

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Scientists in China identify way to treat nerve damage caused by insecticides...

New research has uncovered a potential new therapy for the currently untreatable delayed neuropathy caused by acute exposure to insecticides or chemical weapons that attack the nervous system. The...

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3-D protein structure offers insight into rapid communication by brain cells

New HHMI research reveals how three proteins help brain cells synchronize the release of chemical signals. A similar interaction may play a role in how cells secrete insulin and airway mucus, too.

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