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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Take your time: Neurobiology sheds light on the superiority of spaced vs. massed learning
(Medical Xpress) -- College and cramming – often where’s there’s one, the other is not far behind. That said, however, it has been recognized since the late 1800s that repeated periodic exposure ...
Neuroscience
Mar 28, 2012 |
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Scientists explain how ketamine vanquishes depression within hours
(Medical Xpress)—Many chronically depressed and treatment-resistant patients experience immediate relief from symptoms after taking small amounts of the drug ketamine. For a decade, scientists have been ...
Psychology & Psychiatry
Oct 04, 2012 |
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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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Blue Brain Project accurately predicts connections between neurons
One of the greatest challenges in neuroscience is to identify the map of synaptic connections between neurons. Called the "connectome," it is the holy grail that will explain how information flows in the ...
Neuroscience
Sep 17, 2012 |
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Research finds key molecules involved in forming long-term memories
How does one's experience of an event get translated into a memory that can be accessed months, even years later? A team led by University of Pennsylvania scientists has come closer to answering that question, identifying ...
Medical research
Sep 10, 2012 |
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New connections between brain cells form in clusters during learning
New connections between brain cells emerge in clusters in the brain as animals learn to perform a new task, according to a study published in Nature on February 19 (advance online publication). Led by resear ...
Neuroscience
Feb 19, 2012 |
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New study refutes accepted model of memory formation
A study by Johns Hopkins researchers has shown that a widely accepted model of long-term memory formation—that it hinges on a single enzyme in the brain—is flawed. The new study, published in the Jan. 2 issue of Nature, found ...
Neuroscience
Jan 02, 2013 |
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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
Dec 31, 2012 |
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If you don't snooze, do you lose? Wake-sleep patterns affect brain synapses
An ongoing lack of sleep during adolescence could lead to more than dragging, foggy teens, a University of Wisconsin-Madison study suggests.
Neuroscience
Oct 09, 2011 |
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Study solves birth and migration mysteries of cortex's powerful inhibitors, 'chandelier' cells
A team at CSHL for the 1st time reveals the birth timing and embryonic origin of a critical class of inhibitory brain cells called chandelier cells, tracing the specific paths they take during early development into the cerebral ...
Neuroscience
Nov 22, 2012 |
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Even in fruit flies, enriched learning drives need for sleep
Just like human teenagers, fruit flies that spend a day buzzing around the "fly mall" with their companions need more sleep. That's because the environment makes their brain circuits grow dense new synapses and they need ...
Medical research
Jun 23, 2011 |
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Scientists reverse disorder of neuronal circuits in autism
People with autism suffer from a pervasive developmental disorder of the brain that becomes evident in early childhood. Peter Scheiffele and Kaspar Vogt, Professors at the Biozentrum of the University of ...
Autism spectrum disorders
Sep 14, 2012 |
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Newly found 'volume control' in the brain promotes learning, memory
Scientists have long wondered how nerve cell activity in the brain's hippocampus, the epicenter for learning and memory, is controlled—too much synaptic communication between neurons can trigger a seizure, and too little ...
Neuroscience
Jan 09, 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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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.
