Training in adolescence can offset cognitive deficits in adulthood in a proposed rat model of schizophrenia, reports a study in Neuron.
Read this story at Schizophrenia Research Forum.
hippocampus
The interactive, the progressive, and the hippocampal
Here, SRF brings you an assortment of other conference news, including gene-environment interactions contributing to schizophrenia risk, evidence for progressive brain changes in the disorder, and models of psychosis centering on the hippocampus.
Read this meeting report at Schizophrenia Research Forum.
What (engineered) memories are made of
Sometimes the best way to understand how something works is to try to build it — and researchers have taken just this approach to create synthetic memories, as reported in Science.
Read this article at Schizophrenia Research Forum.
MeCP2 loss ups signal strength
Neurons lacking MeCP2, the protein deficient in Rett syndrome, have stronger signals than controls do when measured amid the electrical activity used by neurons to communicate. The findings suggest that how signals are measured can affect studies of other autism-related mutations.
Read this article at SFARI.
An anxious temperament
Brain activity that correlates with anxious temperament may arise through a combination of nature and nurture, according to a new report published in Nature.
Read this article at Schizophrenia Research Forum.
Disorganized brain signals in a mouse model of schizophrenia
Mice carrying a multi-gene deletion associated with schizophrenia exhibit disrupted communication between regions of the brain involved in working memory.
Read this article at Schizophrenia Research Forum.
Sleep deprivation, cAMP, and schizophrenia
The cognitive difficulties stemming from sleep deprivation may be reversible, according to a recent paper in Nature. Using a drug that boosts levels of cAMP, a key molecule in neurons, scientists repaired memory formation in sleep-deprived mice. A similar approach may be useful in schizophrenia, a disorder that is sometimes marked by sleep disturbances and cAMP deficiencies.
Read this article at Schizophrenia Research Forum.
Brain as crystal ball?
College-age students with a type of gene that increases their chances for getting Alzheimer’s disease also have a brain that acts differently from those who don’t share that risk. What’s unsettling is that this difference can be detected decades before Alzheimer’s typically develops.
Read this article at MSN Health and Fitness.
Nighttime noise: Stealth memory sapper?
Falling asleep in front of the TV may give you more than a sore neck. According to a recent report in Nature Neuroscience, it might give you a bad memory, too.
Read this article at MSN Health and Fitness.
The anxiety switch
Whether you are a French chef vying for a three star rating, or a mere mortal trying to make it through the day, your outlook on life and how you react to stress may depend on a molecular middleman that resides deep inside your brain cells.
Read this article at MSN Health and Fitness.
