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...
View ArticleReadying 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....
View ArticleThe 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...
View Article'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...
View ArticleHere'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...
View ArticleTackling 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...
View ArticleMuscle 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...
View ArticleWhy 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...
View ArticleNerve 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...
View Article'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...
View ArticleBreast milk calcium mystery revealed
Breakthrough research at the University of Queensland has unlocked a mysterious process essential to breastfeeding.
View ArticleRevolutionizing 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...
View ArticleHow 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...
View ArticleTracking 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...
View ArticleResearchers 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...
View ArticleBlocking 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...
View ArticleCalcium 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...
View ArticleSome 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....
View ArticleCalcium 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...
View ArticleGuarding 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,...
View ArticleScientists 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.
View ArticleResearch 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...
View ArticleHow 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...
View ArticleScientists 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...
View ArticleResearchers 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...
View ArticleUnexpected 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...
View ArticleFluctuation 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,...
View ArticleA 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...
View ArticleScientists 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...
View Article3-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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