brain cell

Scientists have gained new insights into regulation of one of the body's enzyme workhorses called calpains. As the cell's molecular overachievers, calpains function in many cellular processes, including the movement of cells in tissues, the death of damaged cells, insulin secretion, and brain cell and muscle function.

Scientists in Israel and California have found a type of brain cell which responds to humour, Science reports.

Researchers at the University of British Columbia have discovered a new method for developing treatments for Alzheimer's Disease (AD).

They have shown that by stimulating a brain cell called a microglia the cells will partially engulf the senile plaques which are abundant in post mortem AD brain.

(Society for Neuroscience) A study released today reveals a cellular mechanism involved in alcohol dependence.

The study, in the May 28 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience, shows that gabapentin, a drug used to treat chronic pain and epilepsy, reduces alcohol intake in alcohol-dependent rats by normalizing chemical communication between neurons, which is altered by chronic alcohol abuse.

(Medical College of Georgia) Studies of how brain cell communication may be altered in schizophrenia have earned Dr.

Lin Mei, chief of developmental neurobiology at the Medical College of Georgia, a 2008 Distinguished Investigator Award from NARSAD.

Short-term stress lasting as little as a few hours can impair brain-cell communication in areas associated with learning and memory, researchers have found.

It has been known that severe stress lasting weeks or months can impair cell communication in the brain's learning and memory region, but this study provides the first evidence that short-term stress has the same effect.