Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) scientists have found another important clue to why nerve cells die in neurodegenerative diseases, based on studies of the developing brain.
Neuroscientists at The University of Queensland have just published findings, which add more weight to the "use it or lose it" model forbrain function.
QBI's Dr Elizabeth Coulson said a baby's brain generates roughly double the number of nerve cells it needs to function; with those cells that receive both chemical and electrical stimuli surviving, and the
remaining cells dying.
In research published in the Journal of Neuroscience, Dr Coulson and her colleagues have identified a crucial step in the cell-death process.
"It appears that if a cell is not appropriately stimulated by other cells, it self-destructs," Dr Coulson said.
This self-destruct process is also known to be an important factor in stroke, Alzheimer's and motor neuron diseases, leading to the loss of essential nerve cells from the adult brain.
"We know that a lack of both chemical and electrical stimuli causes the cells to self-destruct," Dr Coulson said.
"But we believe that nerve cells will survive if appropriate electrical stimuli are produced to block the self-destruct process that we have identified."
The researchers' next step is to test whether dying cells receiving only electrical stimulation can be rescued.
More than three years' research has gone into understanding these crucial factors regulating nerve cell survival, but it is a major step in the long process of discovery needed to combat neurodegeneration.
QBI Director, Professor Perry Bartlett said the research is an extremely exciting finding because it also provides the missing piece of information as to how the brain likely keeps alive the new neurons it generates in some brain areas as an adult.
"Combining this with our knowledge of how to stimulate new neurons in the brain of adults following to disease processes such as stroke, it provides new mechanisms for the treatment of a variety of diseases from depression to dementia," he said.
Established in 2003, the Queensland Brain Institute is one of Australia's leading centres for research in fundamental brain function.
QBI researchers investigate the mechanisms that regulate brain function in the knowledge that a better understanding of how the brain works will lead to the development of improved treatment options for a wide range of mental and neurological disorders.
Source: University of Queensland
Related stories:
Learned safety cheers depressed mice: An animal model of behavioral intervention for depression
A new animal model has provided insight into the cellular and molecular mechanisms associated with behavioral therapy for depression. The study, published by Cell Press in the October 9th issue of
Neuron, may provide a good model system for testing cellular and molecular interactions between antidepressive medications and behavioral treatments for depression.
A fine balance
Once a toddler has mastered the art of walking, it seems to come naturally for the rest of her life. But walking and running require a high degree of coordination between the left and right sides of the body. Now researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have shown how a class of spinal cord neurons, known as V3 neurons, makes sure that one side of the body doesn't get ahead of the other.
Nobel awarded for fluorescent jellyfish protein
Osamu Shimomura of Japan and US duo Martin Chalfie and Roger Tsien on Wednesday won the Nobel Chemistry Prize for a fluorescent protein derived from a jellyfish that has become a vital lab tool.
Study shows how fatty foods curb hunger
Fatty foods may not be the healthiest diet choice, but those rich in unsaturated fats – such as avocados, nuts and olive oil – have been found to play a pivotal role in sending this important message to your brain: stop eating, you're full.
Neurotransmitter defect may trigger autoimmune disease
A potentially blinding neurological disorder, often confused with multiple sclerosis (MS), has now become a little less mysterious. A new study by researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, may have uncovered the cause of Devic's disease. Their new study, which will appear online on October 6th in the
Journal of Experimental Medicine, could result in new treatment options for this devastating disease.
Calming your thoughts through mindfulness
Our worries. They're crescendoing like the finale of Beethoven's "Ninth": Bailouts, buyouts. Recession, depression.
Car or pedestrian -- How we can follow objects with our eyes
When an object moves fast, we follow it with our eyes: our brain correspondingly calculates the speed of the object and adapts our eye movement to it. This in itself is an enormous achievement, yet our brain can do even more than that. In the real world, a car will typically accelerate or brake faster than, say, a pedestrian. But the control of eye movement in fact responds more sensitively to changes in the speed of fast moving objects than slow moving objects.
When a light goes on during thought processes
(PhysOrg.com) -- Thought processes made visible: An international team of scientists headed by Mazahir Hasan of the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg has succeeded in optically detecting individual action potentials in the brains of living animals. The scientists introduced fluorescent indicator proteins into the brain cells of mice via viral gene vectors: the illumination of the fluorescent proteins indicates both when and which neurons are communicating with each other.