Researchers discover new pathway to reduce paradoxical pain
Quebec City & Toronto, January 6, 2013—For individuals with agonizing pain, it is a cruel blow when the gold-standard medication actually causes more pain. Adults and children whose pain gets worse when treated with morphine may be closer to a solution, based on research published in the January 6 on-line edition of Nature Neuroscience.
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Dr. Michel Cayouette, Director of the Cellular Neurobiology research unit at the IRCM, and his team published a scientific breakthrough in stem cell research in The Journal of Neuroscience. Amel Kechad, former student in the laboratory, and Christine Jolicoeur, research assistant, are co-first authors of the article, which was also signed by Adele Tufford and Pierre Mattar, both members of the same research unit.
A step forward in regenerating and repairing damaged nerve cells
A team of IRCM researchers, led by Dr. Frédéric Charron, recently uncovered a nerve cell’s internal clock, used during embryonic development. Continue reading
A study from the Hotchkiss Brain Institute shows there is evidence to support a new drug therapy called nabilone to treat diabetic neuropathy, or nerve pain. Researchers enrolled 60 patients with diabetic neuropathy in a 12-week placebo controlled clinical study. Continue reading
A scientist at the University of British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health has identified the molecule that controls a scissor-like protein responsible for the production of plaques – the telltale sign of Alzheimer’s disease (AD).
Researchers at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute, have discovered a new genetic process that could one day provide a novel target for the treatment of neurodevelopmental disorders, such as intellectual disability and autism.
TORONTO – Researchers at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) have found that metformin, a drug commonly used to treat Type II diabetes, can help trigger the pathway used to instruct stem cells in the brain to become neural (nerve) cells. Continue reading
Researchers from McGill University and the University of Montreal have identified a crucial link between protein synthesis and autism spectrum disorders (ASD), which can bolster new therapeutic avenues. Regulation of protein synthesis, also termed mRNA translation, is the process by which cells manufacture proteins. Continue reading
Researchers elucidate the structure of ion channels in the cell membrane
A breakthrough in basic science made by researchers from the Faculty of Medicine of Laval University may shed new light on cardiac arrhythmia, pain, epilepsy and some forms of paralysis. Continue reading
In many pathologies of the nervous system, there is a common event – cells called microglia are activated from surveillant watchmen into fighters. Microglia are the immune cells of the nervous system, ingesting and destroying pathogens and damaged nerve cells. Until now little was known about the molecular mechanisms of microglia activation despite this being a critical process in the body. Continue reading