GABA tagged posts

neurotransmission

The bioelectronic neural pixel: Chemical stimulation and electrical sensing at the same site. A small device both detects the initial signal of an epileptic attack and doses a substance that effectively stops it. All this takes place where the signal arises – in an area of size 20×20 μm known as a “neural pixel.” According to a recently produced estimate, no less than 6% of the Earth’s population suffers from some type of neurological illness such as epilepsy or Parkinson’s. Some medicines are available, but when these are taken orally or injected into the bloodstream, they also end up where they aren’t needed and may cause serious problems. All medicines have more or less severe side effects.

The small 20×20 μm device developed by the scientists can both capture signal...

Richard Maddock and his team conducted MRI exams of people before and after vigorous exercise to determine the effect of exercise on neurotransmitters. Credit: Image courtesy of University of California – Davis Health System

Intense exercise increases levels of 2 common neurotransmitters – glutamate and GABA The finding offers new insights into brain metabolism and why exercise could become an important part of treating depression and other neuropsychiatric disorders linked with deficiencies in neurotransmitters, which drive communications between the brain cells that regulate physical and emotional health.

“Major depressive disorder is often characterized by depleted glutamate and GABA, which return to normal when mental health is restored,” said Prof. Richard Maddock...

In this composite image, a human nerve cell derived from a patient with Rett syndrome shows significantly decreased levels of KCC2 compared to a control cell.
Image: Gong Chen lab, Penn State University

“The most exciting part of this research is that it directly uses human neurons that originated from Rett Syndrome patients as a clinically-relevant disease model to investigate the underlying mechanism,” said Dr. Chen...

When a laser triggers an optogenetic switch in neurons in the medulla of a sleeping mouse, the animal goes from non-REM sleep (NREM) into REM or dream sleep. The axons of these neurons (green) reach into distant parts of the primitive brain, such as the hypothalamus, broadly affecting brain function. (Franz Weber image.)

Activating small group of neurons in medulla causes rapid transition to REM sleep. The researchers inserted an optogenetic switch into a group of nerve cells located this area, allowing them to activate or inactivate the neurons with laser light. When the neurons were activated, sleeping mice entered REM sleep within seconds...