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Complex channels

The messages passed in a neuronal network can target something like 100 billion nerve cells in the brain alone. These, in turn, communicate with millions of other cells and organs in the body. A team at the Weizmann Institute has now shed light on this mysterious mechanism. The discovery could have important implications for the future development of drugs for epilepsy and other nervous system diseases.

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Keywords: complex, channels, channel

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Similar news on "Complex channels":

1. Altered sodium channel function linked to heart failure
   11-22-2006 · EurekAlert!
   The results of a new study using mice and heart muscle cells from rabbits have provided a potential molecular explanation for the abnormally rapid heartbeats known as ventricular tachyarrhythmias (VTs) that can cause the sudden death associated with heart failure. Researchers from Georg-August-University Göttingen, Germany, show that overexpression of CaMKII alters the function of channels that regulate sodium ion influx into heart muscle cells, something that has been linked with VTs in genetically susceptible individuals.
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2. Origin of inherited pain disorder pinpointed
   12-06-2006 · EurekAlert!
   The genetic basis for a rare inherited disorder that causes severe burning pain with no warning has been pinpointed by researchers. They found that paroxysmal extreme pain disorder (PEPD) is caused by specific mutations in porelike sodium channels in peripheral nerve cells -- a discovery that they said emphasizes the role of such channel disorders in inflammatory pain. Such findings of abnormal function in disease also provide insights into the normal function of such channels, they said.
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3. RNA-associated introns guide nerve-cell channel production
   02-05-2008 · EurekAlert!
   Researchers have discovered that introns, or junk DNA to some, associated with RNA are an important molecular guide to making nerve-cell electrical channels. They hope to relate this knowledge to understanding the molecular underpinnings of memory and learning, as well as components of cognitive dysfunction resulting from neurological disease.
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4. Bacterial toxin closes gate on immune response, Penn researchers discover
   02-13-2008 · EurekAlert!
   Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have demonstrated that a bacterial toxin from the common bacterium Staphylococcus aureus shuts down the control mechanism of the tunnel, called an ion channel, in immune cell membranes. Shutting down ion channels has long been known to suppress the immune response, and the bacteria may use the toxin to neutralize host defenses against bacteria.
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5. New insight into the mechanisms of voltage sensing and transduction in biological processes
   09-14-2007 · EurekAlert!
   The voltage sensor of voltage-gated ion channels is a conserved protein domain that senses millivolt changes in transmembrane potential, to regulate ion permeation through the channel. A recently discovered protein, Ci-VSP, has a voltage sensor that is coupled not to an ion channel but to a phosphatidylinositide phosphosphatase, the activity of which depends on membrane potential.
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6. Protein overexpression at heart of heart failure
   03-13-2007 · EurekAlert!
   In a paper in this week's PLoS ONE, Roger Hullin of the Swiss Heart Center Bern, Jan Matthes of University of Cologne, Germany, and collaborators in both Germany and the USA demonstrate an up-regulation of expression of an accessory subunit of the L-VDCC complex (beta 2-subunit) that is responsible for the altered channel behavior in human heart failure.
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7. Revolution in understanding of ion channel regulation
   01-30-2008 · EurekAlert!
   A study at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago published this week in the online version of Biophysical Journal proposes that bubbles may control the opening and closing of ion channels. This new understanding of the channels that control much of life in health and disease provides a vital piece of the molecular puzzle.
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8. Kids in pain: documentary shows how teens learn to live with pain
   05-30-2007 · University of Bath
   A Bath-based service that helps children and adolescents who suffer from long-term pain will be highlighted in a Channel 4 documentary on Sunday ('When the drugs don't work', 3 June, 8.20am).
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9. Iowa State chemists track how drug changes, blocks flu virus
   02-01-2008 · EurekAlert!
   Two Iowa State University chemists have discovered an antivirus drug attacks influenza A by changing the motion and structure of a proton channel necessary for the virus to infect healthy cells. Mei Hong, the John D. Corbett Professor in Chemistry at Iowa State, said the findings are particularly important because mutations of the type A virus are resistant to the antivirus drug.
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10. Role of noise in neurons
    05-03-2007 · EurekAlert!
    Addressing a current issue in neuroscience, Aldo Faisal and Simon Laughlin from Cambridge University investigate the reliability of thin axons for transmitting information. They show that noise effects in ion channels in the brain are much larger than previously assumed -- meaning the fidelity of transmission is compromised.
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