Medicine & TechnologyUp to date, there has not been effective treatment for dementia and Alzheimer's disease. With researchers discovering how fructose metabilsm affects neuronal function, it may help develop preventive measures of risk factors such as type 2 diabetes and obesity.
Parkinson's disease was cured in mice models by focusing on their neuron development. The team hopes to expand their research to treat other diseases linked to the nervous system.
A new study reveals that astrocytes, the star-shaped glial cells in the CNS, play an essential role in the death of nerve cells in degenerative diseases. The researchers did trials on mice to study the effects of the cell in preventing nerve damage.
It’s a common belief that when you think of neurobiology you often imagine the brain and the central nervous system one neuron at a time. And for many years, that’s exactly how researchers had to approach the larger questions. By tagging in particular neurotransmitters, that would convey the passing of one signal from neuron to neuron, researchers were able to follow the path of a signal back and forth along an axon. But now, with new imaging technology and a new model organism in mind, researchers in neurobiology are seeking new ways in which we study the brain—mapping neural circuits and their functions in great detail, on the large scale.