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解密听力障碍与老年痴呆症的关联性
中年时的听力障碍是老年痴呆发病的一个重要风险因素，但为何一个器官的病变会对大脑和认知功能产生影响却是个未解之谜。在该文中，作者基于过往的研究结果，总结出了四种潜在机制可用以解释两者之间的联系。其一，可能存在某种潜在的致病机制可同时影响耳蜗、听觉通路和大脑皮层；其二，听觉信号的丧失会减少大脑内认知功能的使用，从而造成脑萎缩；其三，听力障碍会致使大脑借用更多的资源来加强听觉信号的处理，最终造成其它认知功能的处理产生资源不足的情况；其四，也是作者认为最有可能的一种理论，强调了内侧颞叶，这一最早受阿兹海默症影响的区域，在处理短期听觉记忆时的重要作用，并推测听力丧失所带来的内侧颞叶区域的活跃性变化可能会促使有害蛋白的积聚，从而诱发老年痴呆。这些推论为今后的相关研究提供了重要的理论基础。
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针灸疗法被证实可抗炎症反应
针灸疗法的有效性因缺乏神经解剖学上的理论基础而备受争议。通过使用电针刺激实验小鼠的后肢和腹部区域，该研究团队发现，针灸疗法可通过几条不同的自主神经通路对躯体炎症反应进行干预。需要注意的是，这种干预效果可正可负，取决于所刺激的具体部位以及电流大小。这项研究对针灸疗法的临床应用具有较强的指导作用，并证实内部神经系统可经体表进行人为刺激，以达到调控体内脏器和细胞的目的。
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神经元可通过调节自身代谢减缓变性过程
一部分的神经退行性病变由线粒体的代谢障碍所引起。线粒体对维持神经元的正常供能尤为重要，而许多理论都认为，当线粒体的代谢出了问题，那么神经元的变性和死亡将不可避免，因为神经元几乎不具备通过调整自身代谢状况来适应外界剧烈变化的能力。在对变性神经元的全蛋白组进行分析后，该团队发现，上述这种观点是有误的。事实上，当线粒体的功能产生障碍时，神经元内的代谢过程会发生重组，开始进行三羧酸循环回补反应。这一适应性改变能减缓神经元变性的进程，如果终止该反应，神经元便会迅速死亡。对神经元这种代谢上的适应能力的理解有助于线粒体异常类神经疾病的靶向药开发。
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To Perceive Faces, Your Brain Relies on a Process Similar to Computer Face Recognition Systems
Some patients with a disorder called hemi-PMO see distortions in the same half of a person’s face, regardless of the angle they view the face. Findings suggest the visual system standardizes all the faces we perceive using the same process, so they can be better compared to faces we have seen before.
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Head Movements Control the Activity of Primary Visual Cortex in a Luminance-Dependent Manner
The vestibular system broadcasts head-movement-related signals to sensory areas throughout the brain, including visual cortex. These signals are crucial for the brain’s ability to assess whether motion of the visual scene results from the animal’s head movements. However, how head movements affect visual cortical circuits remains poorly understood. Here, we discover that ambient luminance profoundly […]
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ADAPTATION IN SINGLE NEURONS PROVIDES MEMORY FOR LANGUAGE PROCESSING
To understand language, we have to remember the words that were uttered and combine them into an interpretation. How does the brain retain information long enough to accomplish this, despite the fact that neuronal firing events are very short-lived? Hartmut Fitz from the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics and his colleagues propose a neurobiological explanation […]
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Survival Mechanism Activated by the Brain in Conditions of Uncertainty
A new Tel Aviv University study examined the brain’s reactions in conditions of uncertainty and stressful conflict in an environment of risks and opportunities. The researchers identified the areas of the brain responsible for the delicate balance between desiring gain and avoiding loss along the way.
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Pinpointing the cells that keep the body’s master circadian clock ticking
UT Southwestern scientists have developed a genetically engineered mouse and imaging system that lets them visualize fluctuations in the circadian clocks of cell types in mice. The method, described online in the journal Neuron, gives new insight into which brain cells are important in maintaining the body’s master circadian clock. But they say the approach […]
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Hormones control paternal interest in offspring
Basing their research on an unexpected interspecies difference between rats and mice, researchers at Karolinska Institute and Stockholm University have mapped a system in the brain that controls paternal behaviour towards offspring. A key component in this behaviour is the hormone prolactin, which prepares females for motherhood and has now been shown to control paternal […]
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Evidence in mice that electroacupuncture reduces inflammation via specific neural pathways
Stimulating the nervous system using small electric current by acupuncture could tamp down systemic inflammation in the body, suggests new research in mice from a team of neuroscientists in the U.S. and China. The research, publishing August 12 in the journal Neuron, helps to map the neuroanatomical underpinnings of this ancient medical practice.