Showing papers in "Trends in Neurosciences in 2008"

TL;DR: It is shown that hyperactivity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis is one of the most consistent biological findings in major depression psychiatry, but the mechanisms underlying this abnormality are still unclear.

TL;DR: It is suggested that the heterogeneity of both the core and co-morbid features predicts a heterogeneous pattern of neuropathology in autism, and defined phenotypes in larger samples of children and well-characterized brain tissue will be necessary for clarification of the neuroanatomy of autism.

TL;DR: Previously of interest in demyelinating diseases such as multiple sclerosis, myelin is attracting new interest as an unexpected contributor to a wide range of psychiatric disorders, including depression and schizophrenia, stimulating research into myelin involvement in normal cognitive function, learning and IQ.

TL;DR: A circuit-based framework for understanding gene and neurotransmitter interactions in schizophrenia is developed and Nicotine enhances the output of interneurons, and might thereby contribute to its therapeutic effect in schizophrenia.

TL;DR: An overview of how the maturation of specific brain regions and stress exposure during windows of vulnerability initiate a series of events that render adolescents exceptionally susceptible to the development of depression is provided.

TL;DR: Emerging knowledge of the actions of Ca(2+) upstream and downstream of Abeta provides opportunities to develop novel preventative and therapeutic interventions for AD.

TL;DR: It is argued that the recently discovered low-affinity membrane version of the mineralocorticoid receptor contributes to the initial phase of the stress reaction; this is complemented by the glucocortioid receptor which terminates the stress response.

TL;DR: This review paper will critically examine the current literature and propose a cortical network model for chronic pain, which is based on human and mouse studies and molecular and synaptic mechanisms underlying relevant cortical plasticity.

TL;DR: The largest part of the primate prefrontal cortex has no homolog in other mammals, so it probably confers some advantage that other mammals either lack or attain through the function of other structures, yet this advantage remains enigmatic.

TL;DR: The mosaic organization of the SVZ offers a unique opportunity to understand the origin of interneuron diversity and how this assortment of neurons contributes to plasticity of postnatal olfactory circuits.

TL;DR: The discovery of this remarkable new photoreceptor system is outlined, the structure of melanopsin is reviewed, and a working model of melanOPSin phototransduction is concluded.

TL;DR: How insights can be gained from studies of an apparently unrelated phenomenon in the rodent brain--remapping in hippocampal place cells is reviewed.

TL;DR: Evidence is now emerging which indicates that coupled oscillatory activity might serve to link neural signals across uni- and multisensory regions and to express the degree of crossmodal matching of stimulus-related information.

TL;DR: It is proposed that over the course of life, activity-dependently regulated adult neurogenesis reveals its true significance in the retained ability for lasting and cumulative network adaptations.

TL;DR: The enormous variation in the nature of rest and sleep states across the animal kingdom and within the mammalian class has important implications for understanding the evolution and functions of sleep.

TL;DR: This review discusses the importance of the three brain water-channel proteins (AQP1, AQP4, AQp9) in brain physiology and how the discovery of AQP activators and inhibitors will be the next major step in this field.

TL;DR: A model is proposed that could account for the results of several studies investigating limbic-system interactions in the nucleus accumbens and their modulation by dopamine and provide testable hypotheses for how these might relate to the pathophysiology of major psychiatric disorders.

TL;DR: A model of disease pathogenesis is discussed that integrates current understanding of the role of protein folding in polyglutamine disease with emerging evidence that alterations in native protein interactions contribute to toxicity.

TL;DR: This work proposes that the MAOA-L, by causing an ontogenic excess of 5-hydroxytryptamine, labilizes critical neural circuitry for social evaluation and emotion regulation (the 'socioaffective scaffold'), thereby amplifying the effects of adverse early-life experience and creating deleterious sociocognitive biases.

TL;DR: Unraveling the biology of gephyrin will further the understanding of glycinergic and GABAergic synapses in health and disease and highlight new research avenues based on a different structural model and a revised nomenclature for gephirin splice variants.

TL;DR: The healthy cell bias of estrogen action hypothesis provides a lens through which to assess disparities in outcomes across basic and clinical science and on which to predict outcomes of estrogen interventions for sustaining neurological health and preventing age-associated neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's.

TL;DR: Recent interesting discoveries on mechanisms of cadherin complex function, in addition to regulating adhesion, that are relevant for understanding the role of this complex in synaptogenesis and plasticity are described.

TL;DR: Noise can play a constructive role - leading to increased reliability or regularity of neuronal firing in single neurons and across populations, and raises fundamental questions about how noise can influence neural function and computation.

TL;DR: One hundred and fifty years ago on 3 April 1858, Rudolf Virchow promulgated the concept of neuroglia in a lecture delivered at the New Pathology Institute of Berlin University.

TL;DR: This review focuses on the relationship among the components of the putative vicious cycle, with particular emphasis on the role of mitochondrial defects on oxidative stress.

TL;DR: This work highlights how mutant huntingtin (mtHtt) might cause mitochondrial dysfunction by either perturbing transcription of nuclear-encoded mitochondrial proteins or by direct interaction with the organelle and modulation of respiration, mitochondrial membrane potential and Ca(2+) buffering and proposes how mitochondria might dictate selective vulnerability of long projection neurons, which are particularly affected in HD.

TL;DR: In this study, structural changes of the expressed FOXP2 protein supported the 'vocal elaboration' of phylogenetically older brain networks engaged in upper limb motor control, such as the cerebro-cerebellar loops.

TL;DR: Surgical planning in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy is frequent but might be amenable to surgical treatment, however, the epileptogenic zone might include remote cortical and subcortical regions.

TL;DR: Different GPCR subtypes, and even the same receptor at different stages of its life cycle, most likely exist in different oligomerization states, from monomers to dimers and possibly higher-order oligomers.

TL;DR: Insight is provided into mechanisms in developing and dysfunctional brain, as well as suggesting new approaches to circumventing brain barrier mechanisms to get therapeutic agents into the central nervous system.