neuronal plasticity

Altering the rate of respiration in mitochondria changes how fast neurons grow, making mouse neurons grow more like human ones and vice versa, a study finds.

So-called mossy fiber synapses in the hippocampus can meter the amount of neurotransmitter they receive by sending glutamate against the usual direction of synaptic flow.

In an unexpected twist in neuroscience dogma, the cells on the receiving end of neurotransmission appear to be able to release glutamate to regulate the transmitting cell’s activity.

Mice who get less attention from their mothers have more copies of a common retrotransposon in the genomes of their hippocampal neurons.

No two neurons are alike. What does that mean for brain function?

Recent advances in single-cell omics and other techniques are revealing variation at genomic, epigenomic, transcriptomic, and posttranscriptomic levels.

Male mice exposed to females, their urine, or a chemical in their urine lost sensory neurons in their vomeronasal organs that respond to that chemical.

Young cells make their way to the frontal lobe to create new circuits in the brains of infants, researchers report. 

Preliminary research suggests that the brains of schizophrenia patients may regain tissue mass as the illness wears on.

This year’s honors go to researchers who mapped human populations, showed spots to cats, and offered children marshmallows to examine the kids’ patience and self-control.

Regular replacement of histones in human and murine neurons is required for neuronal plasticity, a study shows.

What researchers are learning as they sequence, map, and decode species’ genomes

The brain’s ability to make new neural connections can be restored in mice by blocking a protein that normally acts as a natural brake on neuroplasticity. 

Converting sights to sounds reveals that the brains of congenitally blind people respond similarly to various objects as those of subjects who can see.

Satellites of the Golgi apparatus generate the microtubules used to grow outer dendrite branches in Drosophila neurons.

Properly folded prions aid in normal brain development.

The neurophysiologist who earned a Nobel Prize for discovering nerve growth factor has passed away at age 103.

Altered touch perception in deaf people may reveal individual differences in brain plasticity.

Engaging the brain with cognitive tasks helps paralyzed rats walk again.