Neuroscience

Brain connections are more sophisticated than thought

In 1959, a scientist named Edward Gray showed that the miniscule gaps between neurons where chemical messages are sent, called synapses, come in two main varieties, which researchers later dubbed "excitatory" and "inhibitory."

Medical research

Decrypting a collagen's role in schizophrenia

A small peptide generated from a collagen protein may protect the brain from schizophrenia by promoting the formation of neuronal synapses, according to a paper published in The Journal of Cell Biology. The study, "Collagen-Derived ...

Neuroscience

Super-clear synapses at super resolutions

Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology (CDB) in Japan have developed a way to obtain super-resolution 3-D images of delicate structures deep in the brain. Published in Cell Reports, the work describes a ...

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

Changing behavior through synaptic engineering

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School are the first to show that it's possible to reverse the behavior of an animal by flipping a switch in neuronal communication. The research, published in PLOS Biology, ...

Neuroscience

Blame it on the astrocytes

In the brains of all vertebrates, information is transmitted through synapses, a mechanism that allows an electric or chemical signal to be passed from one brain cell to another. Chemical synapses, which are the most abundant ...

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