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Controlling mood through the motions of mitochondria

(Medical Xpress)—Regulating the distribution of power in neurons is done by a system that makes the national electric grid look simple by comparison. Each neuron has several thousand mitochondria confined ...

Neuroscience created May 23, 2013 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (10) | comments 0 | with audio podcast report

Scientists discover molecule triggers sensation of itch

Scientists at the National Institutes of Health report they have discovered in mouse studies that a small molecule released in the spinal cord triggers a process that is later experienced in the brain as ...

Medical research created May 23, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Neurons that can multitask greatly enhance the brain's computational power, study finds

Over the past few decades, neuroscientists have made much progress in mapping the brain by deciphering the functions of individual neurons that perform very specific tasks, such as recognizing the location ...

Neuroscience created May 20, 2013 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (12) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

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 ...

Neuroscience created May 17, 2013 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast report

If you can't beat them, join them: Grandmother cells revisited

(Medical Xpress)—In the absence of any real progress in defining neuronal codes for the brain, the simple idea of the grandmother cell continues to percolate through the scientific and popular literature. Many r ...

Neuroscience created May 10, 2013 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast report

Neuroscientists put heads together at national brainstorming session

(Medical Xpress)—This week over 150 neuroscientists were invited to meet in Arlington, Virginia to discuss the finer points of President Obama's recently announced BRAIN Initative. Rather than discuss funding particulars, ...

Neuroscience created May 08, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast report

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

Neuroscientists use statistical model to draft fantasy teams of neurons

This past weekend teams from the National Football League used statistics like height, weight and speed to draft the best college players, and in a few weeks, armchair enthusiasts will use similar measures ...

Neuroscience created Apr 29, 2013 | popularity 4 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Scientists discover cinnamon compounds' potential ability to prevent Alzheimer's

Cinnamon: Can the red-brown spice with the unmistakable fragrance and variety of uses offer an important benefit? The common baking spice might hold the key to delaying the onset of –– or warding off ...

Alzheimer's disease & dementia created May 23, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

The secret lives, and deaths, of neurons

As the human body fine-tunes its neurological wiring, nerve cells often must fix a faulty connection by amputating an axon—the "business end" of the neuron that sends electrical impulses to tissues or other ...

Neuroscience created May 23, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Pay attention: How we focus and concentrate

Scientists at Newcastle University have shed new light on how the brain tunes in to relevant information.

Neuroscience created May 23, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Scientists uncover molecular roots of cocaine addiction in the brain

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have unraveled the molecular foundations of cocaine's effects on the brain, and identified a compound that blocks cravings for the drug in cocaine-addicted mice. The compound, already proven safe ...

Neuroscience created May 22, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New sleeping pill poised to hit US markets

An experimental sleeping pill from US drug company Merck is effective at helping people fall and stay asleep, according to reviewers at the US Food and Drug Administration, which could soon approve the new drug.

Medications created May 21, 2013 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (5) | comments 0

Deep brain stimulation: A fix when the drugs don't work

Neurological disorders can have a devastating impact on the lives of sufferers and their families.

Neuroscience created May 17, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Research reveals possible reason for cholesterol-drug side effects

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and physicians continue to document that some patients experience fuzzy thinking and memory loss while taking statins, a class of global top-selling cholesterol-lowering ...

Medical research created May 10, 2013 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (12) | comments 13 | 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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Related topics: brain , nerve cells , brain cells , cells , stem cells