Daily non-political popular news in brief.

Health care system for aging nerve cells

Uncontrolled neuronal death in the brain often gives rise to neurodegenerative illnesses like Parkinson or Alzheimer disease. Whether or not neurons have a long and healthy life is, apart from other factors, determined by the presence of neurotrophic factors. Scientists of the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology have now provided unambiguous proof that the presence of the neurotrophic factor GDNF and its receptor Ret are essential for the survival of neurons in a specific brain region.

Read more »

Keywords: health, care, system, aging, nerve, cells, cell

« Previous | Next »

Similar news on "Health care system for aging nerve cells":

1. Scientists identify switch for brain's natural anti-oxidant defense
   10-19-2006 · EurekAlert!
   Scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute report they have found how the brain turns on a system designed to protect its nerve cells from toxic "free radicals," a waste product of cell metabolism that has been implicated in some degenerative brain diseases, heart attacks, strokes, cancer and aging.
   Similar news · Read more »
   
2. UVA researchers explain cell response to skin-damaging UV rays
   10-01-2007 · EurekAlert!
   Researchers at the University of Virginia Health System have published a new study that helps scientists around the world expand the body of knowledge on how cells protect themselves (or not) from DNA damage caused by UV rays. Their study reveals part of a 'simple switch' mechanism inside cells, triggered by UV exposure from the sun, that helps our cells survive and thrive after being exposed. This mechanism involves an unanticipated connection between several proteins in the cell, the researchers discovered.
   Similar news · Read more »
   
3. Neighborly care keeps stem cells young
   10-10-2007 · EurekAlert!
   A stem cell's immediate neighborhood, a specialized environment also known as the stem cell niche, provides crucial support needed for stem cell maintenance. But nothing lasts forever, found scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. During the aging process, the level of support drops off, diminishing the stem cells' ability to replenish themselves indefinitely.
   Similar news · Read more »
   
4. Stem cell activity deciphered in the aging brain
   12-18-2006 · EurekAlert!
   Neurobiologists have discovered why the aging brain produces progressively fewer new nerve cells in its learning and memory center. The scientists said the finding, made in rodents, refutes current ideas on how long crucial "progenitor" stem cells persist in the aging brain.
   Similar news · Read more »
   
5. Milestone in the regeneration of brain cells
   08-20-2007 · EurekAlert!
   Neuherberg, 20 Aug. The research group of Prof. Dr. Magdalena Gцtz at the Institute of Stem Cell Research of the GSF -- National Research Centre for Environment and Health, and the Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich, has achieved an additional step for the potential replacement of damaged brain cells after injury or disease: functional nerve cells can be generated from astroglia, a type of supportive cells in the brain by means of special regulator proteins.
   Similar news · Read more »
   
6. Researchers develop marker that identifies energy-producing centers in nerve cells
   02-01-2007 · EurekAlert!
   A protein that causes coral to glow is helping researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine to light up brain cells that are critical for the proper functioning of the central nervous system. This fluorescent marker protein may shed light on brain cell defects believed to play a role in various neurological diseases.
   Similar news · Read more »
   
7. Study reveals molecular basis of botulism toxin's deadly activity
   12-14-2006 · EurekAlert!
   Scientists at the Scripps Research Institute, the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute have revealed in atomic detail how the toxins that cause botulism target and bind to nerve cells. This new understanding could ultimately lead to new ways for treating botulism, as well as to improved therapies for nervous system diseases such as dystonias, cerebral palsy and multiple sclerosis.
   Similar news · Read more »
   
8. Oosight microscope enables embryonic stem cell breakthrough
   11-29-2007 · EurekAlert!
   A noninvasive, polarized light microscope invented at the Marine Biological Laboratory played a crucial role in the successful derivation of stem cells from cloned monkey embryos as reported in the Nov. 22 issue of Nature. Shoukhrat Mitalipov of Oregon Health & Science University and collaborators succeeded largely due to the Oosight microscope system developed by CRi Inc., based on technology invented by Rudolf Oldenbourg and others at the MBL in Woods Hole, Mass.
   Similar news · Read more »
   
9. VEGF-B helps nerve cells cheat death without unwanted side effects
   02-07-2008 · EurekAlert!
   The prototypical member of the VEGF family of proteins, VEGF, protects cells in the nervous system from death and degeneration. However, its clinical utility in this regard is limited, because it also induces blood vessel growth, a process known as angiogenesis. However, a new study has revealed that another VEGF family member, VEGF-B, does not have such limitations as it acts as a potent inhibitor of murine retinal cell death while exerting minimal angiogenic effects.
   Similar news · Read more »
   
10. Researchers discover gene crucial for nerve cell insulation
    04-16-2007 · EurekAlert!
    Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have discovered how a defect in a single master gene disrupts the process by which several genes interact to create myelin, a fatty coating that covers nerve cells and increases the speed and reliability of their electrical signals
    Similar news · Read more »