Latest Axon Stories

Enzyme could lead to a possible treatment for brain and spinal cord injuryResearchers at Children's Hospital Boston report that an enzyme known as Mst3b, previously identified in their lab, is essential for regenerating damaged axons (nerve fibers) in a live animal model, in both the peripheral and central nervous systems. Their findings, published online by Nature Neuroscience on October 25, suggest Mst3b "“ or agents that stimulate it "“ as a possible means of treating stroke, spinal...

Neurons are structurally complex, with specific parts of the cell responsible for information input and other parts responsible for information output. When neurons lose the ability to distinguish between inputs and outputs, the nervous system stops working. In a report published today in The Journal of Neuroscience, researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Connecticut Health Center show that this is exactly what happens after nervous system injury."This is a new...

Johns Hopkins scientists show how tiny cells deliver big soundDeep in the ear, 95 percent of the cells that shuttle sound to the brain are big, boisterous neurons that, to date, have explained most of what scientists know about how hearing works. Whether a rare, whisper-small second set of cells also carry signals from the inner ear to the brain and have a real role in processing sound has been a matter of debate.Now, reporting on rat experiments in the October 22 issue of Nature, a Johns...

Animal studies at University of Michigan also show potential to restore sense of touchModern tissue engineering developed at the University of Michigan could improve the function of prosthetic hands and possibly restore the sense of touch for injured patients.Researchers will present their updated findings Wednesday at the 95th annual Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons.The research project, which was funded by the Department of Department of Defense, arose from a need for...

Scientists create nerve cell connections in vitro using artificial substances, a major advance towards nerve cell repairThe repair of damaged nerve cells is a major problem in medicine today. A new study by researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital (The Neuro) and McGill University, is a significant advance towards a solution for neuronal repair. The study featured on the cover of the October 7 issue of Journal of Neuroscience, is the first to show that nerve cells will...

A U.S. researcher suggests his myelin model -- based on a sheat the covers nerve axons -- is cause for rethinking Alzheimer's disease. George Bartzokis of the University of California, Los Angeles, says present drug targets -- the amyloid-beta peptide and the tau peptide implicated in Alzheimer's as well as clinical signs such as memory loss -- are actually preceded by the breakdown of myelin. Bartzokis explains myelin -- the fatty sheath covering the nerve axons, allowing for efficient...

The human brain consists of about 100 billion (1011) neurons, which altogether form about 100 trillion (1014) synaptic connections with each other. A crucial mechanism for the generation of this complex wiring pattern is the formation of neuronal branches. The neurobiologists Dr. Hannes Schmidt and Professor Fritz G. Rathjen at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch, Germany, have now discovered a molecule that regulates this vital process. At the same time they...

Dendrites integrate thousands of inputs locally before sending signals to central axonA tiny neuron is a very complicated structure. Its complex network of dendrites, axons and synapses is constantly dealing with information, deciding whether or not to send a nerve impulse, to drive a certain action.It turns out that neurons, at one level, operate like another complicated structure -- the United States, particularly its system of electing a president, through the Electoral College.A new...

U.S. scientists say a new study of neurons supports one of several competing models that attempt to explain how neurons integrate synaptic inputs. Northwestern University researchers in Evanston, Ill., say a neuron is a very complex structure, with dendrites integrating thousands of inputs before it sends a signal to a central axon. Synapses constantly deal with information, deciding whether to send a nerve impulse to drive a certain action. The Northwestern scientists say their study...

A new study shows that nervous system integrity and axonal properties may play a key role in prion diseases. The findings, from researchers at the Rudolf Virchow Center and the Institute of Virology of the University of Würzburg, expand our understanding of the development of prion disease and suggest novel targets for therapeutic and diagnostic approaches in its early stages. Details are published August 21 in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens.Despite growing awareness of prion...