Disturbing the fetal brain during pregnancy impacts neural stem cell growth of offspring into adulthood

Freda Miller
Dr. Freda Miller

It is well known that there are events that happen in utero that can impact the child’s health as an adult. Changes in the maternal environment can have lasting effects for the child decades later. A new study led by The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) is the first to demonstrate how disturbances (like infections) during pregnancy can result in a surge of brain stem cells in offspring. The study, published in the November 7 online edition of Cell Stem Cell, shows what occurs in the brain when the fetal environment is disturbed. Continue reading

Scientists reduce behaviours associated with problem gambling in rats

Dr. Catherine Winstanley
Dr. Catherine Winstanley

With the help of a rat casino, University of British Columbia brain researchers have successfully reduced behaviours in rats that are commonly associated with compulsive gambling in humans.

The study, which featured the first successful modeling of slot machine-style gambling with rats in North America, is the first to show that problem gambling behaviours can be treated with drugs that block dopamine D4 receptors. The findings have been published in Biological Psychiatry journal. Continue reading

Everything in moderation: excessive nerve cell pruning leads to disease

Dr. Phillip Barker
Dr. Phillip Barker

Mechanism meant to maintain efficiency of brain network involved in neurodegenerative disease

Scientists at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital-The Neuro, McGill University, have made important discoveries about a cellular process that occurs during normal brain development and may play an important role in neurodegenerative diseases. Continue reading

Definitive imaging study finds no link between venous narrowing and multiple sclerosis

Dr. Anthony Traboulsee
Dr. Anthony Traboulsee

A study led by Dr. Anthony Traboulsee of the University of British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health to see whether narrowing of the veins from the brain to the heart could be a cause of multiple sclerosis has found that the condition is just as prevalent in people without the disease. Continue reading

To live and learn: making memories has to be a speedy business

Dr. Wayne Sossin
Dr. Wayne Sossin

The brain is plastic – adapting to the hundreds of experiences in our daily lives by reorganizing pathways and making new connections between nerve cells. This plasticity requires that memories of new information and experiences are formed fast. So fast that the body has a special mechanism, unique to nerve cells, that enables memories to be made rapidly. Continue reading

Scientists shed light on the brain mechanisms behind a debilitating sleep disorder

Dr. John Peever
Dr. John Peever

Researchers at the University of Toronto discover how the body’s muscles accidentally fall asleep while awake

Normally muscles contract in order to support the body, but in a rare condition known as cataplexy the body’s muscles “fall asleep” and become involuntarily paralyzed. Cataplexy is incapacitating because it leaves the affected individual awake, but either fully or partially paralyzed. It is one of the bizarre symptoms of the sleep disorder called narcolepsy. Continue reading

IRCM researchers identify new proteins crucial for hearing

Michel Cayouette
Dr. Michel Cayouette

A team of researchers led by Dr. Michel Cayouette at the IRCM made an important discovery, published online yesterday by the scientific journal Developmental Cell, that could better explain some inherited forms of hearing loss in humans. The Montréal scientists identified a group of proteins crucial for shaping the cellular organ responsible for detecting sounds. Continue reading

A Pain Pump

Dr. Yves De Koninck
Dr. Yves De Koninck

Yves De Koninck’s team shows that chronic pain depends on a cellular disorder that can be corrected

Researchers from the Faculty of Medicine of Université Laval have just taken a step towards the development of a new class of drugs to relieve chronic pain. Continue reading

A world first: Douglas Institute researchers identify the neural circuits that modulate REM sleep

Antoine Adamantidis
Dr. Antoine Adamantidis

A team of scientists led by Dr. Antoine Adamantidis, a researcher at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute and an assistant professor at McGill University, has released the findings from their latest study, which will appear in the October issue of the prestigious scientific journal Nature Neuroscience. Continue reading