News tagged with neurotransmitter

Restless legs syndrome, insomnia and brain chemistry: A tangled mystery solved?

Johns Hopkins researchers believe they may have discovered an explanation for the sleepless nights associated with restless legs syndrome (RLS), a symptom that persists even when the disruptive, overwhelming nocturnal urge ...

Neuroscience created May 07, 2013 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (5) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Breaking down the Parkinson's pathway: How affected brain cells respond during different behavioral tasks

The key hallmark of Parkinson's disease is a slowdown of movement caused by a cutoff in the supply of dopamine to the brain region responsible for coordinating movement. While scientists have understood this ...

Neuroscience created Mar 13, 2013 | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | 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

Scientists learn more about how inhibitory brain cells get excited

Scientists have found an early step in how the brain's inhibitory cells get excited.

Neuroscience created Jan 30, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers provide definitive proof for receptor's role in synapse development

Jackson Laboratory researchers led by Associate Professor Zhong-wei Zhang, Ph.D., have provided direct evidence that a specific neurotransmitter receptor is vital to the process of pruning synapses in the brains of newborn ...

Neuroscience created Dec 31, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Engineering a photo-switch for nerve cells in the eye and brain

(Medical Xpress)—Chemists and vision scientists at the University of Illinois at Chicago have designed a light-sensitive molecule that can stimulate a neural response in cells of the retina and brain—a ...

Medical research created Nov 14, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Morphine and cocaine affect reward sensation differently

(Medical Xpress)—A new study by scientists in the US has found that the opiate morphine and the stimulant cocaine act on the reward centers in the brain in different ways, contradicting previous theories ...

Medical research created Oct 05, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast report

Brain's stem cells 'eavesdrop' to find out when to act

Working with mice, Johns Hopkins researchers say they have figured out how stem cells found in a part of the brain responsible for learning, memory and mood regulation decide to remain dormant or create new ...

Medical research created Aug 06, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Ear delivers sound information to brain in surprisingly organized fashion: study

The brain receives information from the ear in a surprisingly orderly fashion, according to a University at Buffalo study scheduled to appear June 6 in the Journal of Neuroscience.

Neuroscience created Jun 05, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (8) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Fruit flies with Restless Legs Syndrome point to a genetic cause

When flies are made to lose a gene with links to Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS), they suffer the same sleep disturbances and restlessness that human patients do. The findings reported online on May 31 in Current Biology strong ...

Genetics created May 31, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Hold that thought? Scientists find sensor that may explain working memory

(Medical Xpress) -- In many cases, a delay occurs between the time you are presented information and the time you respond with an action or decision. Most of us call it a thought, while some scientists call it working memory.

Neuroscience created Dec 21, 2011 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (7) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Neurotransmitter might improve cancer treatment: study

Doses of a neurotransmitter might offer a way to boost the effectiveness of anticancer drugs and radiation therapy, according to a new study led by researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – ...

Cancer created Dec 05, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Structure of vital protein complex, G protein-coupled receptors, described in unprecedented detail

Three international teams of scientists, led by researchers at the University of California San Diego, University of Michigan and Stanford University, have published a trio of papers describing in unprecedented ...

Medical research created Sep 28, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers clock the speed of brain signals

Two studies featuring research from Weill Cornell Medical College have uncovered surprising details about the complex process that leads to the flow of neurotransmitters between brain neurons -- a dance of ...

Neuroscience created Jun 22, 2011 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (14) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Turning Alzheimer's fuzzy signals into high definition

Scientists at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute have discovered how the predominant class of Alzheimer's pharmaceuticals might sharpen the brain's performance.

Neuroscience created May 07, 2013 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Neurotransmitter

Neurotransmitters are endogenous chemicals which relay, amplify, and modulate signals between a neuron and another cell. Neurotransmitters are packaged into synaptic vesicles that cluster beneath the membrane on the presynaptic side of a synapse, and are released into the synaptic cleft, where they bind to receptors in the membrane on the postsynaptic side of the synapse. Release of neurotransmitters usually follows arrival of an action potential at the synapse, but may follow graded electrical potentials. Low level "baseline" release also occurs without electrical stimulation.

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