Daily non-political popular news in brief.

Zinc plays important role in brain circuitry

To the multitude of substances that regulate neuronal signaling in the brain and spinal cord add a new key player: zinc. By engineering a mouse with a mutation affecting a neuronal zinc target, researchers have demonstrated a central role for zinc in modulating signaling among the neurons. Significantly, they found the mutant mouse shows the same exaggerated response to noise as children with the genetic disorder called "startle disease," or hyperekplexia.

Read more »

Keywords: zinc, plays, important, role, brain, circuitry, play

« Previous | Next »

Similar news on "Zinc plays important role in brain circuitry":

1. 'Might have been' key in evaluating behavior
   05-14-2007 · EurekAlert!
   "What might have been" or fictive learning affects the brain and plays an important role in the choices individuals make -- and may play a role in addiction, said Baylor College of Medicine researchers and others in a report that appears online today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
   Similar news · Read more »
   
2. Researchers hot on the trail of brain cell degeneration
   03-19-2007 · EurekAlert!
   A research team headed by Academy Research Fellow Michael Courtney has identified a new molecular pathway in neurons. The pathway is a factor in the degeneration of brain cells, which in turn plays an important role in neurological conditions and diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy and stroke.
   Similar news · Read more »
   
3. Preclinical study links gene to brain aneurysm formation
   08-07-2007 · EurekAlert!
   University of Cincinnati neurovascular researchers have identified a gene that -- when suppressed or completely absent -- may predispose a person to brain aneurysms. Todd Abruzzo, MD, and his colleagues demonstrated that "knocking out" a gene known as endothelial nitric oxide synthase in an animal model led to intracranial aneurysm formation in 33 percent of study subjects. Scientists say this suggests that the gene may play an important role in the development of intracranial aneurysms.
   Similar news · Read more »
   
4. Neural stem cell study reveals mechanism that may play role in cancer
   09-04-2007 · EurekAlert!
   In the dynamic world of the developing brain, neural stem cells give rise to neurons deep within the brain’s fluid-filled ventricles. These newborn neurons then migrate along the stem cell fibers up to the neocortex, the seat of higher cognitive functions. Now, scientists have discovered a key mechanism of this migration -- one that may also play an important role in other developmental processes and diseases, including cancer.
   Similar news · Read more »
   
5. UCLA, Italian chemists move closer to solving Lou Gehrig's disease mystery
   06-27-2007 · EurekAlert!
   Chemists from UCLA and the University of Florence in Italy may have solved an important mystery about a protein that plays a key role in a particular form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. If scientists can figure out why ALS patients do not have copper or zinc in the protein, that would be a major advance that could lead to treatment.
   Similar news · Read more »
   
6. 3 proteins may play important role in nerve-cell repair
   04-11-2007 · EurekAlert!
   Some mature brain cells can grow new extensions when the amount of three particular proteins on their surface increases, a new study shows. The research examined three related receptor proteins, called GPR3, GPR6 and GPR12, on nerve cells in the brains of rats.
   Similar news · Read more »
   
7. Brainstem abnormality link to SIDS stronger than previously indicated
   10-31-2006 · EurekAlert!
   Preliminary research suggests that brainstem abnormalities involving certain serotonin pathways in the brain may play a more important role in SIDS than previously thought, according to an article in the Nov. 1 issue of JAMA.
   Similar news · Read more »
   
8. Cold sore virus might play role in Alzheimer's
   01-03-2007 · EurekAlert!
   A gene known to be a major risk factor for Alzheimer's disease puts out the welcome mat for the virus that causes cold sores, allowing the virus to be more active in the brain compared to other forms of the gene. The findings add some scientific heft to the idea, long suspected by some scientists, that herpes somehow plays a role in bringing about Alzheimer's disease.
   Similar news · Read more »
   
9. Study advances evidence for receptor's role in alcohol pleasure and problems
   03-06-2007 · EurekAlert!
   A genetic variant of a receptor in the brain's reward circuitry heightens the stimulating effects of early exposures to alcohol and increases alcohol consumption, according to a new study by NIAAA researchers. Conducted in rhesus monkeys, the study extends previous research that suggests an important role for a similar brain receptor variant in the development of human alcohol use disorders. The findings appear in the March, 2007 issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.
   Similar news · Read more »
   
10. Spirituality plays role in breast cancer information processing for African-American women
    01-31-2007 · EurekAlert!
    The American Cancer Society estimates that more than 178,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and more than 40,000 will die as a result of breast cancer in 2007. One way to battle these numbers is through increased information sharing and use of early detection methods. A new study from the University of Missouri-Columbia has found that spirituality might play an important role in achieving this, particularly for African-American women.
    Similar news · Read more »