dopaminergic neurons tagged posts

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and the University of North Carolina in the USA have mapped out the cell types behind various brain disorders. The findings are published in Nature Genetics and offer a roadmap for the development of new therapies to target neurological and psychiatric disorders. One interesting finding was that cells from the gut’s nervous system are involved in Parkinson’s disease, indicating that the disease may start there.

The nervous system is composed of hundreds of different cell types with very different functions...

A midbrain organoid in a petri dish. The black pigment is neuromelanin, a hallmark of the human midbrain. Credit: Image courtesy of The Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)

Scientists in Singapore have made a big leap on research on the ‘mini-brain’. These advanced mini versions of the human midbrain will help researchers develop treatments and conduct other studies into Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and aging-related brain diseases. These mini midbrain versions are 3D miniature tissues grown in the lab and have certain properties of specific parts of the human brains. This is the first time that the black pigment neuromelanin has been detected in an organoid model. The study also revealed functionally active dopaminergic neurons.

The human midbrain, which is the information sup...