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Parkinson's mutation stunts neurons
11-22-2006 · EurekAlert!Mutations in a key brain protein known to underlie a form of Parkinson's disease wreaks its damage by stunting the normal growth and branching of neurons, researchers have found. They have pinpointed the malfunction of the protein made by mutant forms of the gene called LRRK2 and how it affects neurons, ultimately leading to their death.
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Keywords: parkinson, mutation, stunts, neurons, stunt, neuron
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- Insight into dopamine role suggests new treatment pathway for Parkinson's
10-18-2006 · EurekAlert!
Dopamine (DA) not only functions as a neurotransmitter, a chemical messenger between neurons by which one neuron triggers another, researchers have found. It also appears to coordinate the activity of a particular neural circuitry. In studies with mice, they found evidence that the dopamine deficiency in Parkinson's and other related movement disorders may cause loss of muscle control and paralysis due to disruption of coordinated activity in this circuit.
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- MIT: Pulsing light silences overactive neurons
03-27-2007 · EurekAlert!
Scientists at the MIT Media Lab have invented a way to reversibly silence brain cells using pulses of yellow light, offering the prospect of controlling the haywire neuron activity that occurs in diseases such as epilepsy and Parkinson's disease.
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- Engineers' pulsing light silences overactive neurons
03-27-2007 · Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Scientists at the MIT Media Lab have invented a way to reversibly silence brain cells using pulses of yellow light, offering the prospect of controlling the haywire neuron activity that occurs in diseases such as epilepsy and Parkinson's disease.
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- The birth and death of dopamine neurons: A new model for neurodegeneration
12-10-2007 · EurekAlert!
The connection between development and neurodegeneration is emphasized via a new mouse knockout of a transcription factor that is critical for dopamine neuron specification, which produces a late-onset, asymmetric degenerative condition in a manner very similar to human Parkinson's disease.
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- Overexcited neurons not good for cell health
12-17-2007 · EurekAlert!
A Northwestern University study reports that a mutation in a transcription factor that controls a neurotransmitter in the nematode C. elegans causes an imbalance in neuronal signaling that results in protein damage in target cells. Similar results and consequences on protein folding were found to occur upon exposure to the common toxins nicotine and lindane (a pesticide). Neurons become overexcited and fire incorrect signals too rapidly, resulting in proteins in target muscle cells becoming stressed, misfolding and becoming nonfunctional.
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- Deconstructing brain wiring, one neuron at a time
02-28-2007 · EurekAlert!
Researchers have long said they won't be able to understand the brain until they can put together a "wiring diagram" -- a map of how billions of neurons are interconnected. Now, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have jumped what many believe to be a major hurdle to preparing that chart: Identifying all of the connections to a single neuron.
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- Imaging neural progenitor cells in the living human brain
11-08-2007 · EurekAlert!
For the first time, investigators have identified a way to detect neural progenitor cells, which can develop into neurons and other nervous system cells, in the living human brain using a type of imaging called magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The finding, supported by the National Institutes of Health, may lead to improved diagnosis and treatment for depression, Parkinson's disease, brain tumors, and a host of other disorders.
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- Chemical cues turn embryonic stem cells into cerebellar neurons
03-14-2007 · EurekAlert!
Rockefeller University scientists show that embryonic stem cells implanted in the brain appear to develop into fully differentiated granule neurons, the most plentiful neuron in the cerebellum. The findings are a step toward understanding how embryonic stem cells could be regulated in vivo and ultimately used for cell replacement therapy, especially after childhood tumors, in the central nervous system.
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- Experience affects new neuron survival in adult brain; study sheds light on learning, memory
03-22-2007 · EurekAlert!
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- Study of the drug, Isradipine, to determine if it slows or prevents Parkinson's disease
06-13-2007 · EurekAlert!
Gloria E. Meredith, Ph.D., collaborated with D. James Surmeier, Ph.D. and others at Northwestern University to study the drug, Isradipine, and its effects on Parkinson's disease. Dr. Meredith studies a chronic mouse model that mimics the signs and symptoms of Parkinson's disease. The scientists joined together to see if the drug could stop cells from dying in the mouse model. Findings indicated that isradipine slowed the disease process and destruction of the dopamine-producing neurons.
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