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Zinc’s Role in the Brain

By Guest PostOctober 13, 2011Health, Sciencechemical in synaptic vesicles, duke university, long-term potentiation, neuroscience, stores neurotransmitters, the role of zinc in the brain, university of toronto scarborough (utsc), xiao-an zhang, zinc, zinc’s function, zinc’s role in the brain, zx1

*Research gives insight into 50-year-old mystery – zinc important for learning and memory

TORONTO, ON – Zinc plays a critical role in regulating how neurons communicate with one another, and could affect how memories form and how we learn. The new research, in the current issue of Neuron, was authored by Xiao-an Zhang, now a chemistry professor at the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC), and colleagues at MIT and Duke University.

Researchers have been trying to pin down the role of zinc in the brain for more than fifty years, ever since scientists found high concentrations of the chemical in synaptic vesicles, a portion of the neuron that stores neurotransmitters. But it was hard to determine just what zinc’s function was. (more…)

Crossing Your Arms Relieves Pain

By Guest PostJune 8, 2011Healthbrain, centre of the body, clinical therapies, crossed hands, eeg, electroencephalography, external space, giandomenico iannetti, hand, intensity of pain, laser, neuroscience, pain, painful stimulus, phenomenon, sensory stimuli, ucl

Crossing your arms reduces the intensity of pain you feel when receiving a painful stimulus on the hand, according to research by scientists at UCL.

Published in the current issue of the journal PAIN, the research shows that crossing your arms over the midline (an imaginary line running vertically down the centre of the body) confuses the brain and reduces the intensity of the pain sensation. (more…)

Breakthrough: Scientists Harness the Power of Electricity in the Brain

By Guest PostNovember 1, 2010Health, Sciencebiomedical engineering, brain, brain impulses, brain waves, daniel ferris, electrical brain activity, electrode, harnesses, joe gwin, mri-based model, neuroscience, orchestra, paralyzed patient, power of electricity, robotic exoskeleton, symphony

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— A paralyzed patient may someday be able to “think” a foot into flexing or a leg into moving, using technology that harnesses the power of electricity in the brain, and scientists at University of Michigan School of Kinesiology are now one big step closer.

Researchers at the school and colleagues from the Swartz Center for Computational Neuroscience at the University of California, San Diego have developed technology that for the first time allows doctors and scientists to noninvasively isolate and measure electrical brain activity in moving people. (more…)

Brain Connections Break Down as We Age

By Guest PostAugust 19, 2010Health, Scienceage, age-related degeneration, brain connections, corpus callosum, functional mri, gerontology, multiple, neuroscience, parkinson, rachael seidler, two-sided motor, university of michigan

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—It’s unavoidable: breakdowns in brain connections slow down our physical response times as we age, a new study suggests.

This slower reactivity is associated with an age-related breakdown in the corpus callosum, a part of the brain that acts as a dam during one-sided motor activities to prevent unwanted connectivity, or cross-talk, between the two halves of the brain, said Rachael Seidler, associate professor in the University of Michigan School of Kinesiology and Department of Psychology, and lead study author.

(more…)

Tag Archives: neuroscience

Zinc’s Role in the Brain

*Research gives insight into 50-year-old mystery – zinc important for learning and memory

Crossing Your Arms Relieves Pain

Breakthrough: Scientists Harness the Power of Electricity in the Brain

Brain Connections Break Down as We Age