10 junho 2015
neuromorphogenesis: Missing link found between brain, immune...
Missing link found between brain, immune system — with major disease implications
In a stunning discovery that overturns decades of textbook teaching, researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have determined that the brain is directly connected to the immune system by vessels previously thought not to exist.
That such vessels could have escaped detection when the lymphatic system has been so thoroughly mapped throughout the body is surprising on its own, but the true significance of the discovery lies in the effects it could have on the study and treatment of neurological diseases ranging from autism to Alzheimer’s disease to multiple sclerosis.
“Instead of asking, ‘How do we study the immune response of the brain?,’ ‘Why do multiple sclerosis patients have the immune attacks?,’ now we can approach this mechanistically – because the brain is like every other tissue connected to the peripheral immune system through meningeal lymphatic vessels,” said Jonathan Kipnis, a professor in U.Va.’s Department of Neuroscience and director of U.Va.’s Center for Brain Immunology and Glia. “It changes entirely the way we perceive the neuro-immune interaction. We always perceived it before as something esoteric that can’t be studied. But now we can ask mechanistic questions.“
He added, “We believe that for every neurological disease that has an immune component to it, these vessels may play a major role. [It’s] hard to imagine that these vessels would not be involved in a [neurological] disease with an immune component.”
Kevin Lee, who chairs the Department of Neuroscience, described his reaction to the discovery by Kipnis’ lab: “The first time these guys showed me the basic result, I just said one sentence: ‘They’ll have to change the textbooks.’ There has never been a lymphatic system for the central nervous system, and it was very clear from that first singular observation – and they’ve done many studies since then to bolster the finding – that it will fundamentally change the way people look at the central nervous system’s relationship with the immune system.”
Even Kipnis was skeptical initially. “I really did not believe there are structures in the body that we are not aware of. I thought the body was mapped,” he said. “I thought that these discoveries ended somewhere around the middle of the last century. But apparently they have not.”
The discovery was made possible by the work of Antoine Louveau, a postdoctoral fellow in Kipnis’ lab. The vessels were detected after Louveau developed a method to mount a mouse’s meninges – the membranes covering the brain – on a single slide so that they could be examined as a whole. “It was fairly easy, actually,” he said. “There was one trick: We fixed the meninges within the skullcap, so that the tissue is secured in its physiological condition, and then we dissected it. If we had done it the other way around, it wouldn’t have worked.”
After noticing vessel-like patterns in the distribution of immune cells on his slides, he tested for lymphatic vessels and there they were. The impossible existed.
The soft-spoken Louveau recalled the moment: “I called Jony [Kipnis] to the microscope and I said, ‘I think we have something.’”
As to how the brain’s lymphatic vessels managed to escape notice all this time, Kipnis described them as “very well hidden” and noted that they follow a major blood vessel down into the sinuses, an area difficult to image. “It’s so close to the blood vessel, you just miss it,” he said. “If you don’t know what you’re after, you just miss it.
“Live imaging of these vessels was crucial to demonstrate their function, and it would not be possible without collaboration with Tajie Harris,” Kipnis noted. Harris is an assistant professor of neuroscience and a member of the Center for Brain Immunology and Glia. Kipnis also saluted the “phenomenal” surgical skills of Igor Smirnov, a research associate in the Kipnis lab whose work was critical to the imaging success of the study.
The unexpected presence of the lymphatic vessels raises a tremendous number of questions that now need answers, both about the workings of the brain and the diseases that plague it.
For example, take Alzheimer’s disease. “In Alzheimer’s, there are accumulations of big protein chunks in the brain,” Kipnis said. “We think they may be accumulating in the brain because they’re not being efficiently removed by these vessels.” He noted that the vessels look different with age, so the role they play in aging is another avenue to explore.
And there’s an enormous array of other neurological diseases, from autism to multiple sclerosis, that must be reconsidered in light of the presence of something science insisted did not exist.
Image: The lymphatic system map: old (left) and new.
Cocaine addiction, craving and relapse One of the major...
Cocaine addiction, craving and relapse
One of the major challenges of cocaine addiction is the high rate of relapse after periods of withdrawal and abstinence. But new research reveals that changes in our DNA during drug withdrawal may offer promising ways of developing more effective treatments for addiction.
Withdrawal from drug use results in reprogramming of the genes in the brain that lead to addictive personality, say researchers from McGill University and Bar Ilan University in a new study published in the Journal of Neuroscience.
“We inherit our genes from our parents and these genes remain fixed throughout our life and are passed on to our children; we can do very little to change adverse genetics changes that we inherit,” says Moshe Szyf, a professor in the Faculty of Medicine at McGill, “In contrast, epigenetic marks such as DNA methylation act as switches and dimmers of genes- they can be switched on, off, or dimmed - by epigenetic drugs inhibiting DNA methylation and removing methyl marks from these genes.”
The researchers wanted to see if they could stop addictive behavior by influencing the epigenetic markers that were triggered by withdrawal using epigenetic drugs such as the DNA methylation inhibitor, RG108.
Rat model of addiction
The team used a rat model of incubation of cocaine craving, in which rats were trained to self-administer cocaine which was cued by a specific light or sound. This drug craving or “addictive” behavior was tested after either 1 day or 30 days of withdrawal from cocaine. Following the long withdrawal, the rats developed an intense drug seeking behavior when exposed to the cue. It was after a lengthy period without the drugs that the epigenetic changes were most evident.
Revolutionary approach to treating drug addiction
“We discovered that injecting the drug RG108 just before the animals were exposed to the light cue after the long withdrawal not only stopped the addictive behavior of the animals, it also lasted for a longer period. This suggests that a single treatment with RG108 could reverse or perhaps cure drug addiction.” adds Szyf.
Period of withdrawal is key
“Surprisingly, we discovered that the biggest changes in DNA methylation occurred not during the exposure to the drug but during withdrawal,” says co-author Gal Yadid, of Bar Ilan University, “During this period of withdrawal, hundreds of genes changed their state of DNA methylation including genes that were known before to be involved in addiction”.
This research may point to new avenues for treatment of addiction in humans.
Current treatments might aggravate rather than inhibit addiction
“The mainstay of current approaches to treating addiction might actually aggravate it,” says Yadid. “Our research suggests that because the changes in addiction involve numerous genes, our current approaches will continue to fail if we target one or few targets in the brain, but more research is needed to confirm if these new avenues hold promise.”
milky way, photographed by stereo b, 21st-22nd january 2007.the...
milky way, photographed by stereo b, 21st-22nd january 2007.
the plane of the galaxy around scorpius. the second brightest object in the image, above the galaxy, is antares. the very brightest, above and left, must be a planet - perhaps mars. the pair of bright stars that just sneak into frame at bottom right are alpha and beta centauri; one of the stars in the alpha centauri star system, proxima centauri, is the closest star to the sun.
18 frames over 22 hours. on january 21st, the spacecraft used a lunar gravity assist to escape the earth-moon system and enter a heliocentric orbit.
image credit: nasa/stereo. animation: ageofdestruction.
agestare-at–me: nowyoukno: Source for more facts...
what ! i always wondered wtf happened in there
sarah-b93: My weight loss story: Hi there! I’m Sarah and I lost...
My weight loss story: Hi there! I’m Sarah and I lost 36 pounds in 6 weeks using this bean extract my best friend recommended. I’ve been eating the exact same way as before and lost 36 pounds so far. The natural bean increased my metabolism 2-3 times. The other thing I like about this is it’s 100% organic and comes from a bean. The secret ingredient stopped carbs from absorbing into my body which I LOVED cause I’m a big fan of pasta, bread and bagels. If you’ve struggled to lose weight in the past then I highly recommend you give this magic bean a try. I’ve never been happier or felt healthier than I do now. Tip: you can get a bottle for almost nothing because of their summer special going on right now!! 🌴🌞I didn’t even pay shipping. Good luck :-)
The Nehru-Gandhis are a political dynasty that’s dominated the...
The Nehru-Gandhis are a political dynasty that’s dominated the Indian National Congress ever since India claimed its independence. Jawaharlal Nehru, the patriarch of the family, opposed British occupation in India and led numerous civil disobedience campaigns, which put him behind bars. After being released in 1945 he played an important role in the negotiations that would create the independent states of India and Pakistan. He was appointed Prime Minster of the Republic of India in 1947, a position he held until his death in 1964, seventeen years later.
Nehru’s daughter Indira Gandhi spent a year in prison for opposing British occupation. She was Prime Minister between 1966 and 1977 and again from 1980 through 1984, ruling like a dictator. She was assassinated by a Sikh member of her personal bodyguards. Her son Rajiv Ghandi shared the same tragic fate, killed during the 1991 elections by a young Tamil girl who tied a bomb to her body in protest of India’s political actions in Sri Lanka. Rajiv’s son, Rahul Ghandi, has picked up the family mantle and entered politics in 2004, aged 34. Unsurprisingly, given his family name, he has done well for himself on the national level.
June 10th 1967: Six-Day War endsOn this day in 1967, the...
Israeli units enter Gaza on June 6th
Life magazine covers the war
Map of territorial changes - Wikipedia
June 10th 1967: Six-Day War ends
On this day in 1967, the Six-Day War in the Middle East ended as Israel observed the UN ceasefire and ended its advance into Syria. The war was a result of high tensions in the area with clashes over territory and mutual attacks. Israel went to war with Egypt, Jordan and Syria on June 5th 1967 with Israeli surprise bombing raids on Egypt. The war ended with a decisive Israeli victory which gave them effective control of the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan and the Golan Heights from Syria.
pbsamericanmasters: Happy Birthday Judy Garland (1922 - 1969)! ...
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I think I’m a sugar glider.
Aw
Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder may share genetic roots...
Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder may share genetic roots with creativity
Genes linked to creativity could also increase the risk of developing schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, according to new research carried out by researchers from deCODE Genetics and the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College London.
It has long been suggested that creativity and psychosis show certain similarities, with notable examples of artists such as Vincent Van Gogh who themselves suffered from psychiatric illnesses. Previous studies have shown that psychiatric disorders, particularly bipolar disorder, tend to be found in the same families where creative professions are common. However, until now it had not been possible to pinpoint whether this was simply due to shared environmental factors or socioeconomic status.
Although creativity is difficult to define for scientific purposes, researchers consider a creative person to be someone who takes novel approaches requiring cognitive processes that are different from prevailing modes of thought or expression. Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are disorders of thoughts and emotions, which means that those affected show alterations in cognitive and emotional processing.
Genetic risk scores for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder were examined in a sample of 86,292 individuals from the general population of Iceland, in collaboration with researchers from deCODE Genetics, who provided the data. In the study, published in Nature Neuroscience, creative individuals were defined as those belonging to the national artistic societies of actors, dancers, musicians, visual artists and writers.
Researchers found that genetic risk scores for both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder were significantly higher in those defined as creative individuals, with scores approximately halfway between the general population and those with the disorders themselves.
These findings lend support to the direct influence of genetic factors on creativity, as opposed to the effect of sharing an environment with individuals who have schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.
Robert Power, first author from the MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry (SGDP) Centre at the IoPPN, said: ‘For most psychiatric disorders little is known about the underlying biological pathways that lead to illness. An idea that has gained credibility is that these disorders reflect extremes of the normal spectrum of human behaviour, rather than a distinct psychiatric illness. By knowing which healthy behaviours, such as creativity, share their biology with psychiatric illnesses we gain a better understanding of the thought processes that lead a person to become ill and how the brain might be going wrong.’
‘Our findings suggest that creative people may have a genetic predisposition towards thinking differently which, when combined with other harmful biological or environmental factors, could lead to mental illness.’
Medo da luz
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Posted by Mensagens da Manhã on Terça, 21 de outubro de 2014
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There are a number of terms in modern English which are directly derived from the Chinese-English...
There are a number of terms in modern English which are directly derived from the Chinese-English pidgin that was used in South China and Shanghai during the period of foreign concessions. Much of this pidgin, used mainly as an intermediary form of communication between the English speaking foreign-nationals and the native Chinese residents of the city. Initially they were Cantonse speakers, but it was later brought to Shanghai and further popularised there.
Phrases such as “chop chop” meaning to hurry or “no can do” were often the result of this pidgin. "Long time no see" is believed to be a calque of the Cantonese 好耐冇見, literally “very long time no see." And of course there’s the word "pidgin” itself, which is a variation on the word “business”. A lot of these words made it into the vernacular of the foreign residents in the settlements in China, and in some cases found their way into the language more generally as slang as people left China or travelled in between.
The Hawthorne Effect Go Here –>...
The Hawthorne Effect
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