"We were able to demonstrate that this model, which consists of only a single
nerve cell, yields highly reproducible data in the functional tests and thus represents a very good basis for high-throughput experiments," said Matthijs Verhage from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
It's not clear whether
nerve cells respond to stiffness in species other than frogs.
But why do the neural networks change their structures in the course of visual experience if
nerve cells are already specialized in particular stimuli at the moment the eyes first open?
"Our findings suggest that homocysteine acts directly on
nerve cells in the brain to increase damage to their DNA," says Mark Mattson, chief of the National Institute on Aging's Laboratory of Neurosciences.
In general, while today's treatments provide only symptomatic relief, the next generation of treatments may delay onset or slow progression by protecting
nerve cells for a longer period of time.
With some key exceptions, most regions in the adult brain don't make new
nerve cells. But in a small sliver of brain tissue called the median eminence, new
nerve cells are born throughout life, neuroscientist Seth Blackshaw of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and colleagues report online March 25 in Nature Neuroscience.
In the brain, neurotransmitters like serotonin and norepinephrine carry signals from one
nerve cell to the next across the gap (synapse) between the two.
We found that a
nerve cell's internal clock switches its response to external signals when it reaches the Shh protein, at which time it becomes repelled by the Shh signal rather than following it.
But some cash-savvy
nerve cells deep in the brain know what to do.
(Synapses are points where two
nerve cells meet.) These were synapses that use gamma-aminobutyric acid, or GABA, as a chemical transmitter.
London, October 8 ( ANI ): In a new study, researchers have discovered a new group of
nerve cells that regulate processes of learning and memory.
Once in the bloodstream, MDMA hones in on the brain's millions of serotonin-producing
nerve cells. These cells are shaped like starfish, and consist of a central cell body (command center), dendrites (thin, stringy fibers that carry electrical signals), and axons (long fibers that relay electrical signals to other
nerve cells).