Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: neuroscience

Neurovascular dynamics in the spinal cord from development to pathophysiology

The spinal cord vasculature in development and pathophysiology.

In brain, retina, and spinal cord the vasculature plays an active role as regulator of homeostasis and repair, but vascular cells adopt region-specific traits.

However, vascular organization and properties of spinal cord remain understudied.

Although it is assumed that spinal cord and brain neurovascular systems are built and function in the same way, the researchers challenge this view by examining specific properties underlying spinal cord vascular development, physiology, and pathology.

They highlight unique angioarchitecture and homeostatic mechanisms, and discuss how neurovascular disruption contributes to spinal disorders and regenerative failure after injury. https://sciencemission.com/Neurovascular-dynamics-in-the-sc

Ruiz de Almodóvar et al. review the unique properties of spinal cord vasculature and its interactions with neural tissue across development, physiology, and disease, highlighting future directions to address open questions in neurovascular biology and translation.

Continue reading “Neurovascular dynamics in the spinal cord from development to pathophysiology” | >

Why a mild brain injury can trigger Alzheimer’s

New research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine is revealing why traumatic brain injury increases the chance of developing Alzheimer’s disease—and the discovery is pointing to a potential strategy to prevent the progressive brain disorder.

John Lukens, director of UVA’s Harrison Family Translational Research Center in Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases—housed within the Paul and Diane Manning Institute of Biotechnology—and his team discovered that even one mild traumatic brain injury can set off damaging changes, paving the way for the development of Alzheimer’s.

“Our findings indicate that fixing brain drainage following head trauma can provide a much-needed strategy to limit the development of Alzheimer’s disease later in life,” said Lukens, part of UVA’s Department of Neuroscience and its Center for Brain Immunology and Glia, and author on the new study published in Cell Reports.

‘Devious’ Lung-Brain Cancer Connection Surprises Researchers

Lung cancer cells metastasizing to the brain can form real electrical synapses with neurons, not just hijack brain space — a discovery that may open new therapeutic targets. Researchers found that neuronal activity actually spurs tumor growth and that drugs reducing neuron signaling could slow cancer proliferation.

Two teams discover how small cell lung cancer hijacks neural pathways to proliferate faster, especially to the brain. Common neuro drugs could be the answer.

‘Listening in’ on the brain’s hidden language: Engineered protein detects the faintest incoming signals

Scientists have engineered a protein able to record the incoming chemical signals of brain cells (as opposed to just their outgoing signals). These whisper-quiet incoming messages are the release of the neurotransmitter glutamate, which plays a critical role in how brain cells communicate with one another but until now has been extremely difficult to capture.

The findings are published in Nature Methods and could transform how neuroscience research is done as it pertains to measuring and analyzing neural activity.

The special protein that researchers at the Allen Institute and HHMI’s Janelia Research Campus have engineered is a molecular “glutamate indicator” called iGluSnFR4 (pronounced ‘glue sniffer’). It’s sensitive enough to detect the faintest incoming signals between neurons in the brain, offering a new way to decipher and interpret their complex cascade of electrical activity that underpins learning, memory, and emotion. iGluSnFR4 could help decode the hidden language of the brain and deepen our understanding of how its complex circuitry works. This discovery allows researchers to watch neurons in the brain communicate in real time.

Natural protein drug may slow neuron death linked to Alzheimer’s disease

Scientists at the University of Colorado Anschutz have discovered that while brain neuron changes, including cell loss, may begin in early life, a drug long-approved for other conditions might be repurposed to slow this damage, offering new hope for those with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other cognition issues.

The study was published today in the journal Cell Reports Medicine.

“This drug improved one measure of cognition and reduced a blood measure of neuron death in people with AD in a relatively short period of time in its first clinical trial,” said the study’s senior author Professor Huntington Potter, Ph.D., director of the University of Colorado Alzheimer’s and Cognition Center at CU Anschutz.

Key phospholipid points to potential treatment for vascular dementia

A possible new treatment for impaired brain blood flow and related dementias is on the horizon. Research by scientists at the University of Vermont Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine provides novel insights into the mechanisms that regulate brain blood flow and highlights a potential therapeutic strategy to correct vascular dysfunction.

Their preclinical findings, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest that adding a missing phospholipid back into a person’s circulatory system could restore normal brain blood flow and reduce symptoms of dementia.

“This discovery is a huge step forward in our efforts to prevent dementia and neurovascular diseases,” says principal investigator Osama Harraz, Ph.D., assistant professor of pharmacology at Larner College of Medicine.

How an antiviral defense mechanism may lead to Alzheimer’s disease

One of the main proteins that contributes to Alzheimer’s disease is called phospho-tau (p-tau). When p-tau gets too many phosphate groups attached to it (a process called hyperphosphorylation), it starts to stick together and form clumps called “tangles” inside of brain nerve cells.

A new study by Mass General Brigham investigators shows that tau hyperphosphorylation may be a consequence of an antiviral response that protects the brain from infection. Results are published in Nature Neuroscience.

“As a geneticist, I always wondered why humans had evolved gene mutations predisposing to Alzheimer’s disease,” said senior author Rudolph Tanzi, Ph.D., Director of the McCance Center for Brain Health and Genetics and Aging Research Unit in the Mass General Brigham Department of Neurology.

Rare Hall effect reveals design pathways for advanced spintronic materials

Scientists at Ames National Laboratory, in collaboration with Indranil Das’s group at the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics (India), have found a surprising electronic feature in transitional metal-based compounds that could pave the way for a new class of spintronic materials for computing and memory technologies.

Spintronics, a field that harnesses the spin of electrons in addition to their charge, promises breakthroughs in technologies such as brain-like computers and memory devices that retain data without power.

The unexpected feature was found in Mn₂PdIn, a Heusler compound—a type of alloy valued for its tunable magnetic and electronic properties. These alloys can exhibit behaviors not seen in their individual elements, making them prime candidates for spintronic applications.

Signature neural patterns may help predict recovery from traumatic brain injury

After traumatic brain injury (TBI), some patients may recover completely, while others retain severe disabilities. Accurately evaluating prognosis is challenging in patients on life-sustaining therapy.

Though resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) can assess neurological activity shortly after brain injury, it is unknown whether communication across brain regions at this early juncture predicts long-term recovery.

/* */