News tagged with synapses
Researchers identify how cells control calcium influx
(Medical Xpress)—When brain cells are overwhelmed by an influx of too many calcium molecules, they shut down the channels through which these molecules enter the cells. Until now, the "stop" signal mechanism that cells ...
Neuroscience
May 09, 2013 |
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Alzheimer's disease is associated with removal of the synaptic protein ADAM10
Alzheimer's disease is characterized by the accumulation of neurotoxic β-amyloid peptide (A-beta). ADAM10, a protein that resides in the neural synapses, has previously been shown to prevent the formation of A-beta.
Alzheimer's disease & dementia
May 08, 2013 |
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New methods to explore astrocyte effects on brain function
A study in The Journal of General Physiology presents new methods to evaluate how astrocytes contribute to brain function, paving the way for future exploration of these important brain cells at unprecede ...
Medical research
Apr 29, 2013 |
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Scientists identify important regulator for synapse stability and plasticity
(Medical Xpress)—Using the fruit fly as a model organism, neurobiologists from the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research have identified the L1-type CAM neuroglian as an important regulator ...
Neuroscience
Apr 25, 2013 |
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First steps of synapse building is captured in live zebra fish embryos
Using spinning disk microscopy on barely day-old zebra fish embryos, University of Oregon scientists have gained a new window on how synapse-building components move to worksites in the central nervous system.
Neuroscience
Apr 18, 2013 |
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Structural dynamics underlying memory in aging brains
(Medical Xpress)—When the brains of those who have succumbed to age-related neurodegeneration are analyzed post-mortem, they typically show significant atrophy on all scales. Not only is the cortex thinner ...
Neuroscience
Apr 17, 2013 |
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Discovery of genetic defect that triggers epilepsy
Researchers at the University Department of Neurology at the MedUni Vienna have identified a gene behind an epilepsy syndrome, which could also play an important role in other idiopathic (genetically caused) ...
Neuroscience
Apr 17, 2013 |
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Star-shaped glial cells act as the brain's 'motherboard'
The transistors and wires that power our electronic devices need to be mounted on a base material known as a "motherboard." Our human brain is not so different—neurons, the cells that transmit electrical ...
Neuroscience
Mar 07, 2013 |
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Even mild traumatic brain injuries can kill brain tissue, study finds
Scientists have watched a mild traumatic brain injury play out in the living brain, prompting swelling that reduces blood flow and connections between neurons to die.
Neuroscience
Mar 07, 2013 |
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Epigenetics: Neurons remember because they move genes in space
How do neurons store information about past events? In the Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, a mechanism unknown previously of memory traces formation has ...
Neuroscience
Mar 07, 2013 |
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Flip of a single molecular switch makes an old brain young
The flip of a single molecular switch helps create the mature neuronal connections that allow the brain to bridge the gap between adolescent impressionability and adult stability. Now Yale School of Medicine ...
Neuroscience
Mar 06, 2013 |
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Study shows how insulin-like molecules play critical role in learning and memory
Though it's most often associated with disorders like diabetes, Harvard researchers have shown how the signaling pathway of insulin and insulin-like peptides plays another critical role in the body – helping ...
Neuroscience
Feb 26, 2013 |
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Rewriting a receptor's role: Synaptic molecule works differently than thought
(Medical Xpress)—In a pair of new papers, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences upend a long-held view about the basic functioning ...
Alzheimer's disease & dementia
Feb 19, 2013 |
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When good habits go bad: Neuroscientist seeks roots of obsessive behavior, motion disorders
Learning, memory and habits are encoded in the strength of connections between neurons in the brain, the synapses. These connections aren't meant to be fixed, they're changeable, or plastic.
Autism spectrum disorders
Feb 16, 2013 |
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Study in mice yields Angelman advance
In a new study in mice, a scientific collaboration centered at Brown University lays out in unprecedented detail a neurological signaling breakdown in Angelman syndrome, a disorder that affects thousands ...
Medical research
Feb 13, 2013 |
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Chemical synapse
Chemical synapses are specialized junctions through which neurons signal to each other and to non-neuronal cells such as those in muscles or glands. Chemical synapses allow neurons to form circuits within the central nervous system. They are crucial to the biological computations that underlie perception and thought. They allow the nervous system to connect to and control other systems of the body.
The adult human brain is estimated to contain from 1014 to 5 × 1014 (100-500 trillion) synapses.[citation needed] Each mm3 of cerebral cortex contains roughly a billion of them.
The word "synapse" comes from "synaptein", which Sir Charles Scott Sherrington and colleagues coined from the Greek "syn-" ("together") and "haptein" ("to clasp"). Chemical synapses are not the only type of biological synapse: electrical and immunological synapses also exist. Without a qualifier, however, "synapse" commonly means chemical synapse.
For more information about Chemical synapse, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
