Neurodegeneration

Structural dynamics underlying memory in aging brains

(Medical Xpress)—When the brains of those who have succumbed to age-related neurodegeneration are analyzed post-mortem, they typically show significant atrophy on all scales. Not only is the cortex thinner ...

Neuroscience created Apr 17, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast report

Researchers discover a missing link in signals contributing to neurodegeneration

In many neurodegenerative diseases the neurons of the brain are over-stimulated and this leads to their destruction. After many failed attempts and much scepticism this process was finally shown last year to be a possible ...

Neuroscience created May 09, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Researchers rebuild the brain's circuitry

Neuron transplants have repaired brain circuitry and substantially normalized function in mice with a brain disorder, an advance indicating that key areas of the mammalian brain are more reparable than was ...

Neuroscience created Nov 24, 2011 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (20) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Scientists uncover mechanism by which chronic stress causes brain disease

Chronic stress has long been linked with neurodegeneration. Scientists at USC now think they may know why.

Neuroscience created Jun 29, 2011 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (8) | comments 8 | with audio podcast

Regulatory enzyme overexpression may protect against neurodegeneration in Huntington's disease

Treatment that increases brain levels of an important regulatory enzyme may slow the loss of brain cells that characterizes Huntington's disease (HD) and other neurodegenerative disorders. In a report receiving advance online ...

Neuroscience created Dec 18, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Scientists learn what makes nerve cells so strong

How do nerve cells—which can each be up to three feet long in humans—keep from rupturing or falling apart?

Neuroscience created Apr 15, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (8) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Discovery helps explain how children develop rare, fatal disease

One of 100,000 children is born with Menkes disease, a genetic disorder that affects the body's ability to properly absorb copper from food and leads to neurodegeneration, seizures, impaired movement, stunted ...

Medical research created Apr 30, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Newly found 'volume control' in the brain promotes learning, memory

Scientists have long wondered how nerve cell activity in the brain's hippocampus, the epicenter for learning and memory, is controlled—too much synaptic communication between neurons can trigger a seizure, and too little ...

Neuroscience created Jan 09, 2013 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (8) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Scientists uncover a new pathway that regulates information processing in the brain

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have identified a new pathway that appears to play a major role in information processing in the brain. Their research also offers insight into how imbalances ...

Neuroscience created Nov 09, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

'Strikingly similar' brains of man and fly may aid mental health research

A new study by scientists at King's College London and the University of Arizona (UA) published in Science reveals the deep similarities in how the brain regulates behaviour in arthropods (such as flies ...

Neuroscience created Apr 11, 2013 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (6) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Scientists identify most lethal known species of prion protein

Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have identified a single prion protein that causes neuronal death similar to that seen in "mad cow" disease, but is at least 10 times more ...

Medical research created Feb 09, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (9) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Neuroscientists show 'jumping genes' may contribute to aging-related brain defects

As the body ages, the physical effects are notable; wrinkles in the skin appear, physical exertion becomes harder. But there are also less visible processes going on. Inside aging brains there is another phenomenon at work, ...

Neuroscience created Apr 08, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Seven genetic risk factors found to be associated with age-related macular degeneration

An international group of researchers has discovered seven new regions of the human genome—called loci—that are associated with increased risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of blindness. The ...

Genetics created Mar 03, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Disruption of biological clocks causes neurodegeneration, early death

New research at Oregon State University provides evidence for the first time that disruption of circadian rhythms – the biological "clocks" found in many animals – can clearly cause accelerated neurodegeneration, ...

Neuroscience created Jan 10, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (7) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Possible role for Huntington's gene discovered

About 20 years ago, scientists discovered the gene that causes Huntington's disease, a fatal neurodegenerative disorder that affects about 30,000 Americans. The mutant form of the gene has many extra DNA ...

Genetics created Jan 16, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast


Neurodegeneration is the umbrella term for the progressive loss of structure or function of neurons, including death of neurons. Many neurodegenerative diseases including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and Huntington’s occur as a result of neurodegenerative processes. As research progresses, many similarities appear which relate these diseases to one another on a sub-cellular level. Discovering these similarities offers hope for therapeutic advances that could ameliorate many diseases simultaneously. There are many parallels between different neurodegenerative disorders including atypical protein assemblies as well as induced cell death. Neurodegeneration can be found in many different levels of neuronal circuitry ranging from molecular to systemic.

This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Latest Spotlight News

'Gap' for HIV vaccine efforts after latest setback

The hunt for an HIV vaccine has gobbled up $8 billion in the past decade, and the failure of the most recent efficacy trial has delivered yet another setback to 26 years of efforts.

Consuming coffee linked to lower risk of detrimental liver disease, study finds

Regular consumption of coffee is associated with a reduced risk of primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), an autoimmune liver disease, Mayo Clinic research shows. The findings were being presented at the Digestive Disease ...

Ketamine shows significant therapeutic benefit in people with treatment-resistant depression

Patients with treatment-resistant major depression saw dramatic improvement in their illness after treatment with ketamine, an anesthetic, according to the largest ketamine clinical trial to-date led by researchers from the ...

Returning genetic incidental findings without patient consent violates basic rights, experts say

Informed consent is the backbone of patient care. Genetic testing has long required patient consent and patients have had a "right not to know" the results. However, as 21st century medicine now begins to use the tools of ...

Vicious cycle: Obesity sustained by changes in brain biochemistry

With obesity reaching epidemic levels in some parts of the world, scientists have only begun to understand why it is such a persistent condition. A study in the Journal of Biological Chemistry adds substantially to the st ...

White matter imaging provides insight into human and chimpanzee aging

(Medical Xpress)—The instability of "white matter" in humans may contribute to greater cognitive decline during the aging of humans compared with chimpanzees, scientists from Yerkes National Primate Research ...

Melon focus headband turns to Kickstarter for rollout plans

(Medical Xpress)—What if the quality of your work depends more on your focus on the piano keys or canvas or laptop than your musical or painting or computing skills? If target users can be convinced, they ...

New research identifies risks, interventions for children's GI health

An increasing number of U.S. children are experiencing gastrointestinal issues that require interventions to resolve, according to research presented at Digestive Disease Week (DDW).

Temporal processing in the olfactory system

The neural machinery underlying our olfactory sense continues to be an enigma for neuroscience. A recent review in Neuron seeks to expand traditional ideas about how neurons in the olfactory bulb might encode information about ...

AIDS science at 30: 'Cure' now part of lexicon

Big names in medicine are set to give an upbeat assessment of the war on AIDS on Tuesday, 30 years after French researchers identified the virus that causes the disease.