Category Biology/Biotechnology

REM sleep — the phase of night-time mammalian sleep physiology where dreams occur — has long fascinated scientists, clinicians, philosophers, and artists alike, but the identity of the neurons that control REM sleep, and its function in sleep have been controversial due to a lack of precise genetic methods to study the sleeping brain. (stock image) Credit: © asife / Fotolia

ID of the neurons that control REM sleep, and its function in sleep have been controversial due to a lack of precise genetic methods to study the sleeping brain. Now neuroscientists provide the first answers to both questions, identifying a neural circuit in the brain that regulates REM sleep, and showing that REM sleep controls the physiology of the other major sleep phase, called non-REM (NREM) sleep.

The study began...

PA Ameliorates CNS Autoimmunity via Induction of Treg Cells in the Small Intestine

Adjusting length of fatty acids consumed by mice altered the function of T helper cells in the gut – either intensifying or alleviating symptoms in an animal model of the autoimmune disease (i.e., multiple sclerosis).

A team compared in mice the effects of short-chain fatty acids, which are solely metabolized by gut bacteria and are typically found in fiber-rich diets, with the effects of long-chain fatty acids, the most abundant component of western diets. They found that long-chain fatty acids, such as lauric acid and palmitic acid, promoted the development and release of proinflammatory T cells from the intestinal wall to other areas in the body, including the brain...

This is an image of a human brain, courtesy of Michael Halassa.The thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN) surrounds the thalamus (pictured in red, with a switchboard in the background).

Findings help explain how the brain pays attention to what’s important and how neural circuits may be ‘broken’ in attention-deficit disorders. Researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center say they have added to evidence that the thalamic reticular nucleus or TRN in the central brain, is likely responsible for the ability to routinely and seamlessly multitask.

The process, they suggest, is done by individual TRN neurons that act like a “switchboard,” continuously filtering sensory information and shifting more or less attention onto one sense – like sight – while relatively blocking out distracting information from o...

At the level of gene expression, PGC-1α is sensitive to numerous signaling cascades, most pronounced of which is the cAMP signaling pathway

Although both exercises activate PGC-1α gene (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma coactivator), the adaptation processes stimulated are not the same and depend on the type of exercise.

Proteins run the body: They turn processes on or off or speed them up or slow them down. The body has many different proteins, and the instructions to make them are written on sections of DNA, referred to as genes. Different genes code for different proteins, but different proteins can also come from the same gene. Called isoforms, these proteins are produced when only part of the gene’s code is read.

The PGC-1α protein turns on other genes...