News tagged with nerve cells

Genes for autism and schizophrenia only active in developing brains

Genes linked to autism and schizophrenia are only switched on during the early stages of brain development, according to a study in mice led by researchers at the University of Oxford.

Genetics created Feb 11, 2013 | popularity 3.4 / 5 (30) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Model for brain signaling flawed, new study finds

A new study out today in the journal Science turns two decades of understanding about how brain cells communicate on its head. The study demonstrates that the tripartite synapse – a model long accepted by the ...

Neuroscience created Jan 10, 2013 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (14) | comments 11 | with audio podcast

Researchers cure epilepsy in mice using brain cells

UCSF scientists controlled seizures in epileptic mice with a one-time transplantation of medial ganglionic eminence (MGE) cells, which inhibit signaling in overactive nerve circuits, into the hippocampus, a brain region associated ...

Neuroscience created May 05, 2013 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (14) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Green tea and red wine extracts interrupt Alzheimer's disease pathway in cells

Natural chemicals found in green tea and red wine may disrupt a key step of the Alzheimer's disease pathway, according to new research from the University of Leeds.

Alzheimer's disease & dementia created Feb 05, 2013 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (11) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New stem cell approach for blindness successful in mice (w/ video)

(Medical Xpress)—Blind mice can see again, after Oxford University researchers transplanted developing cells into their eyes and found they could re-form the entire light-sensitive layer of the retina. 

Ophthalmology created Jan 08, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (10) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Bionic eye gives hope to the blind

After years of research, the first bionic eye has seen the light of day in the United States, giving hope to the blind around the world.

Ophthalmology created Feb 05, 2013 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (11) | comments 0

Scientists pinpoint brain's area for numeral recognition

Scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine have determined the precise anatomical coordinates of a brain "hot spot," measuring only about one-fifth of an inch across, that is preferentially activated ...

Neuroscience created Apr 16, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (9) | comments 3 | 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

Researchers show possible trigger for MS nerve damage

High-resolution real-time images show in mice how nerves may be damaged during the earliest stages of multiple sclerosis. The results suggest that the critical step happens when fibrinogen, a blood-clotting ...

Medical research created Nov 27, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (8) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Is this peptide a key to happiness?

(Medical Xpress)—What makes us happy? Family? Money? Love? How about a peptide? The neurochemical changes underlying human emotions and social behavior are largely unknown. Now though, for the first time in humans, scientists ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created Mar 07, 2013 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (8) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers discover surprising complexities in the way the brain makes mental maps

Your brain has at least four different senses of location – and perhaps as many as 10. And each is different, according to new research from the Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience, at the Norwegian ...

Neuroscience created Dec 05, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (8) | comments 17 | 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

Blind patient reads words stimulated directly onto the retina

For the very first time researchers have streamed braille patterns directly into a blind patient's retina, allowing him to read four-letter words accurately and quickly with an ocular neuroprosthetic device. ...

Neuroscience created Nov 22, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Spring cleaning in your brain: New stem cell research shows how important it is

Deep inside your brain, a legion of stem cells lies ready to turn into new brain and nerve cells whenever and wherever you need them most. While they wait, they keep themselves in a state of perpetual readiness ...

Neuroscience created Apr 10, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Embryonic stem cell transplant restores memory, learning in mice

For the first time, human embryonic stem cells have been transformed into nerve cells that helped mice regain the ability to learn and remember. A study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is the first ...

Medical research created Apr 21, 2013 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (8) | comments 6 | with audio podcast

Neuron

A neuron (pronounced /ˈnjʊərɒn/ N(Y)OOR-on, also known as a neurone or nerve cell) is an excitable cell in the nervous system that processes and transmits information by electrochemical signalling. Neurons are the core components of the brain, the vertebrate spinal cord, the invertebrate ventral nerve cord, and the peripheral nerves. A number of specialized types of neurons exist: sensory neurons respond to touch, sound, light and numerous other stimuli affecting cells of the sensory organs that then send signals to the spinal cord and brain. Motor neurons receive signals from the brain and spinal cord and cause muscle contractions and affect glands. Interneurons connect neurons to other neurons within the same region of the brain or spinal cord. Neurons respond to stimuli, and communicate the presence of stimuli to the central nervous system, which processes that information and sends responses to other parts of the body for action. Neurons do not go through mitosis, and usually cannot be replaced after being destroyed, although astrocytes have been observed to turn into neurons as they are sometimes pluripotent.

For more information about Neuron, read the full article at Wikipedia.
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