Mechanisms underlying efficient coding of natural stimuli revealed
Author: Julie
What makes the brain tick so fast?
New study sheds light on the workings of brain neurotransmitter receptors
Surprisingly complex interactions between neurotransmitter receptors and other key proteins help explain the brain’s ability to process information with lightning speed, according to a new study.
Scientists at McGill University, working with collaborators at the universities of Oxford and Liverpool, combined experimental techniques to examine fast-acting protein macromolecules, known as AMPA receptors, which are a major player in brain signaling. Their findings are reported online in the journal Neuron. Continue reading
Location may be key to effectively controlling pain
Targeting the pain receptor at the cell’s nucleus has a major effect on its ability to transmit pain signals.
In real estate, location is key. It now seems the same concept holds true when it comes to stopping pain. New research published in Nature Communications by a team of researchers led by McGill University’s Director of Anesthesia Research Terence Coderre and Karen O’Malley at Washington University in St. Louis, indicates that the location of receptors that transmit pain signals is important in how big or small a pain signal will be — and therefore how effectively drugs can block those signals.
Accidental finding leads to brain circuit development discovery
Researchers at the University of Ottawa Brain and Mind Research Institute have pinpointed a set of rules that govern how brain circuits develop during early life, offering clues into neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism and schizophrenia.
Published in Neuron, one of the most influential journals in the field of neuroscience, their study shows how neuroplasticity guides brain development at the microscopic level, which ultimately sets the stage for how the mature brain operates. Continue reading
Neurons actively modify the features of astrocytes in the brain
The brain gives up more secrets – Montreal scientists unveil a key mechanism that could improve brain function
A research team, led by the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) in Montreal, has broken new ground in our understanding of the complex functioning of the brain.
The research, published in the current issue of the journal Science, demonstrates that brain cells, known as astrocytes, which play fundamental roles in nearly all aspects of brain function, can be adjusted by neurons in response to injury and disease. The discovery, which shows that the brain has a far greater ability to adapt and respond to changes than previously believed, could have significant implications on epilepsy, movement disorders, and psychiatric and neurodegenerative disease. Continue reading
Graham Collingridge – 2016 Brain Prize winner
Graham Collingridge 2016 Brain Prize winner – Learn more on the Brainprize.org website
The Brain Prize for 2016 is awarded to Timothy Bliss, Graham Collingridge and Richard Morris for their ground-breaking research on the cellular and molecular basis of Long-Term Potentiation and the demonstration that this form
of synaptic plasticity underpins spatial memory and learning.
Learn more on the Brain Prize website
Vulnerability to depression linked to noradrenaline
The team of Bruno Giros, a researcher at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute and professor of psychiatry at McGill University, reports the first-ever connection between noradrenergic neurons and vulnerability to depression. Published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, this breakthrough paves the way for new depression treatments that target the adrenergic system. Continue reading
Sweets and treats rewire animal brains
Overeating is the largest determinant of obesity, which is one of the biggest health crises affecting Canadians. A new animal study out of the Hotchkiss Brain Institute (HBI) at the University of Calgary’s Cumming School of Medicine provides new insight into how high fat diets rapidly rewire the reward circuits in the brain, which can lead to an increase in food-seeking and risk-taking behaviours in the pursuit of food. The study will be published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States on February 15th. Continue reading
Animal electricity – how we learned that the body and brain are electric machines
A new book by Robert B. Campenot, Professor Emeritus at University of Alberta offers a comprehensive overview of animal electricity, examining its physiological mechanisms as well as the experimental discoveries that form the basis for our modern understanding of nervous systems across the animal kingdom. Learn more about this book, and others, in our neuroscience books section!
Scientists discover new way to protect neurons during stroke
Research from Roger Thompson’s laboratory, at the Hotchkiss Brain Institute, shows new therapeutic could protect the brain and lead to better stroke outcomes.
The discovery of a new signaling pathway in neurons could help researchers understand how to protect the brain during a stroke. Researchers have long thought that a protein called the NMDA receptor was principally responsible for neuron death during a stroke, but the new animal study shows that it is, in fact, the interaction between NMDA receptors and another protein known as pannexin-1, that causes the neurons to die. The discovery was made at the Hotchkiss Brain Institute (HBI) at the University of Calgary’s Cumming School of Medicine, and published this week in the journal Nature Neuroscience. Continue reading