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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 (9) | 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

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

New neuron formation could increase capacity for new learning, at the expense of old memories

New research presented today shows that formation of new neurons in the hippocampus - a brain region known for its importance in learning and remembering - could cause forgetting of old memories by causing a reorganization ...

Neuroscience created 12 hours ago | popularity 3.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Hormone signal drives motor neuron growth, fish study shows

A discovery made in fish could aid research into motor neuron disease.

Medical research created May 23, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Italy approves law on controversial stem cell therapy (Update)

Italian lawmakers on Wednesday gave their final approval to a law that allows limited use of a controversial type of stem cell therapy which has been condemned by many scientists but has given hope to families of terminally-ill ...

Medical research created May 22, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1

New theory offers clues to vital 'repair and maintenance' role of sleep

(Medical Xpress)—We spend about a third of our life asleep, but why we need to do so remains a mystery. In a recent publication, researchers at University of Surrey and University College London suggest a new hypothesis, ...

Neuroscience created May 21, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

A new strategy required in the search for Alzheimer's drugs?

In the search for medication against Alzheimer's disease, scientists have focused – among other factors – on drugs that can break down Amyloid beta (A-beta). After all, it is the accumulation of A-beta that causes the ...

Alzheimer's disease & dementia created 13 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

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