Category Biology/Biotechnology

A new study reveals that fragmented sleep causes cellular damage to the brain’s blood vessels, providing further evidence to suggest that sleep disruption predisposes the brain to dementia.

The research, published in the journal Brain, is the first to offer cellular and molecular evidence that sleep disruption directly causes damage to brain blood vessels and blood flow.

“We found that individuals who had more fragmented sleep, such as sleeping restlessly and waking up a lot at night, had a change in their balance of pericytes—a brain blood vessel cell that plays an important role in regulating brain blood flow and the entry and exit of substances between the blood and the brain,” said Andrew Lim, principal investigator of the study and a sleep neurologist and scientist at Sunny...

Eating pistachios every night for 12 weeks altered bacteria in the gut, according to new study. A new study reveals that swapping a typical nighttime carbohydrate snack for pistachios may beneficially alter gut bacteria in people with prediabetes. Conducted by Penn State researchers, the 12-week clinical trial found that pistachio consumption increased beneficial gut microbes like Roseburia and reduced harmful ones such as Blautia hydrogenotrophica...

Clock genes are a set of genes known to contribute to the regulation of the human body’s internal 24-hour cycle, also known as the circadian rhythm. One of these genes is the so-called CLOCK gene, a protein that regulates the activity of other genes, contributing to recurrent patterns of sleep and wakefulness.

Past findings suggest that this gene is also expressed in the neocortex, a brain region that supports important cognitive abilities, including reasoning, decision-making and the processing of language. However, the gene’s possible contribution to these specific brain functions remains poorly understood.

In a breakthrough that reimagines the way the gut and brain communicate, researchers have uncovered what they call a “neurobiotic sense,” a newly identified system that lets the brain respond in real time to signals from microbes living in our gut.

The new research, led by Duke University School of Medicine neuroscientists Diego Bohórquez, Ph.D., and M. Maya Kaelberer, Ph.D., published in Nature, centers on neuropods, tiny sensor cells lining the colon’s epithelium. These cells detect a common microbial protein and send rapid messages to the brain that help curb appetite.

But this is just the beginning...