New method visualizes groups of neurons as they compute

Using a fluorescent probe that lights up when brain cells are electrically active, researchers found they can image the activity of many neurons at once, in mice brains. The technique could allow neuroscientists to analyze circuits within the brain and link them to specific behaviors.

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Scientists find gender-distinct circuit for depression

Depression affects women nearly twice as much as men, but unraveling the brain's blueprint that regulates this behavior, let alone identifying specific molecular differences between sexes, has proven difficult. Researchers, however, have found and flipped a switch in the brain, revealing a single circuit in mice that activates during stress and is controlled by testosterone.

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Finding upends theory about the cerebellum's role in reading and dyslexia

New brain imaging research debunks a controversial theory about dyslexia that can impact how it is sometimes treated. The cerebellum, a brain structure traditionally considered to be involved in motor function, has been implicated in the reading disability, developmental dyslexia, however, this 'cerebellar deficit hypothesis' has always been controversial. The new research shows that the cerebellum is not engaged during reading in typical readers and does not differ in children who have dyslexia.

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Voltage gated calcium channels 'read' electric patterns in embryos to create cartilage and bone

Scientists have revealed how the electrical patterns formed within an embryo initiate a cascade of molecular changes that culminate in the development of cartilage and bone. Prior studies have shown these electrical patterns appear like blueprints of the tissues and organs that eventually take shape as the embryo matures. The new study demonstrates that voltage gated calcium channels 'read' the electrical pattern, setting off the expression of genes that guide differentiation to mature cells.

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Study pinpoints Alzheimer's plaque emergence early and deep in the brain

By scanning whole brains of Alzheimer's model mice from an early age, researchers were able to precisely trace the terrible march of amyloid plaques from deep brain structures outward along specific circuits. They also showed that plaque density in a key region in humans scales with disease stage.

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