Psychedelics Open a New Window on the Mechanisms of Perception - Issue 102: Hidden Truths nautil.us - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nautil.us Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The current opioid epidemic warrants a better understanding of genetic and environmental factors that contribute to opioid addiction. Here we report an increased prevalence of vitamin D (VitD) deficiency in patients diagnosed with opioid use disorder and an inverse and dose-dependent association of VitD levels with self-reported opioid use. We used multiple pharmacologic approaches and genetic mouse models and found that deficiencies in VitD signaling amplify exogenous opioid responses that are normalized upon restoration of VitD signaling. Similarly, physiologic endogenous opioid analgesia and reward responses triggered by ultraviolet (UV) radiation are repressed by VitD signaling, suggesting that a feedback loop exists whereby VitD deficiency produces increased UV/endorphin-seeking behavior until VitD levels are restored by cutaneous VitD synthesis. This feedback may carry the evolutionary advantage of maximizing VitD synthesis. However, unlike UV exposure, exogenous opioid use is no
Brain Maps May Reveal the Origins and Paths of Neurological Dysfunction Brain Maps May Reveal the Origins and Paths of Neurological Dysfunction
The Allen Institute’s Human Brain Atlas, which maps regions of the brain by gene expression, helped orient University of Cambridge researchers during an investigation of the structural changes that occur in the brains of adolescents. The researchers found that the brain regions that exhibited the greatest structural changes, as determined by magnetic resonance imaging, were correlated with the expression of schizophrenia-related genes.
Brain Maps May Reveal the Origins and Paths of Neurological Dysfunction
By combining the dynamism of functional neuroimaging and the resolution of molecular profiling, new technologies may bring obscure neurological mechanisms to light
Development of personalised models of cognitive decline
Appeared in BioNews 1096
A new model able to predict cognitive decline in Alzheimer s disease could help to develop personalised treatments.
With an aim to identify therapeutic targets, researchers at McGill University, Canada, combined results from brain scans with gene activity data. This allowed them to explore the relationship between changes in gene expression and physical changes in the brain across normal brain ageing and cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer s disease. We wanted to combine whole-brain gene activity measurements with clinical scan data in a comprehensive and personalised model, which we then validated in healthy ageing and Alzheimer s disease said lead author Quadri Adewale.
Scientists map gene changes underlying brain and cognitive decline in aging eurekalert.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from eurekalert.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.