rats

Researchers have now shown that rats transplanted with cells isolated from human nasal polyps have improved brain function following a stroke compared with rats not transplanted with these cells.

Pairing leptin with just a minor amount of exercise seems to revive the hormone's ability to fight fat, researchers discovered.

The combination of leptin and a modest dose of wheel running prevented obese rats on a belt-busting, high-fat diet from gaining weight, even though neither tactic worked alone.

By blocking certain mechanisms that control the way that nerve cells in the brain communicate, scientists have been able to prevent visual recognition memory in rats.

This demonstrates they have identified cellular and molecular mechanisms in the brain that may provide a key to understanding processes of recognition memory.

Increasing the brain level of receptors for dopamine, a pleasure-related chemical, can reduce use of cocaine by 75 percent in rats trained to self-administer it.

Earlier research had similar findings for alcohol intake. Treatments that increase levels of these chemicals -- dopamine D2 receptors -- may prove useful in treating addiction.

Imaging the olfactory bulb of awake rats reveals that odor discrimination occurs about 100 milliseconds after sensory input reaches the brain, sharply limiting the role that spike rate and temporal integration can play in coding odor identity.

Seabird colonies on islands are highly vulnerable to introduced rats, which find the ground-nesting birds to be easy prey.

But the ecological impacts of rats on islands extend far beyond seabird nesting colonies, according to a new study.