Neuroscience

Compounds block stress-enhanced nicotine intake in rats

Stress is a major cause of relapse after people quit smoking. Worrying situations, such as money or relationship problems, can affect neurotransmitter levels in the brain, leading former smokers to reach for a cigarette. ...

Neuroscience

Oxytocin could help treat alcohol use disorder

The neuropeptide oxytocin blocks enhanced drinking in alcohol-dependent rats, according to a study published April 16 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology led by Drs. Tunstall, Koob and Vendruscolo of the National Institutes ...

Neuroscience

Study finds GABA cells help fight alcoholism

Scientists of the Higher School of Economics, Indiana University, and École normale supérieure have clarified how alcohol influences the dopamine and inhibitory cells in the midbrain that are involved in the reward system ...

Neuroscience

How excitatory/inhibitory balance is maintained in the brain

Just as a thermostat is used to maintain a balanced temperature in a home, different biological processes maintain the balance of almost everything in our bodies, from temperature and oxygen to hormone and blood sugar levels. ...

Neuroscience

Neurotransmitter GABA predicts learning

In an international collaboration with the Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, MD, USA), neuroscientists at the Ruhr-University Bochum have determined a link between brain levels of the neurotransmitter GABA, the main source ...

Autism spectrum disorders

Common heart drug might dampen some autism symptoms

(HealthDay)—A medication typically prescribed to control high blood pressure that's commonly referred to as a water pill may ease some of the symptoms of autism, researchers say.

Neuroscience

Balancing connections for proper brain function

Neuropsychiatric conditions such as autism, schizophrenia and epilepsy involve an imbalance between two types of synapses in the brain: excitatory synapses that release the neurotransmitter glutamate, and inhibitory synapses ...

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