Researchers have unveiled a breakthrough technology that could transform the way scientists build and study lab-grown brain tissue models. The innovation, called Cellular RedOx Spreading Shield (CROSS), delivers long-lasting antioxidant protection to stem cells, enabling the reliable production of high-quality extracellular vesicles (EVs) that strengthen neuron-glia networks.
The study, published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials, was led by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign chemical and biomolecular engineering professor Hyunjoon Kong and chemistry professor Hee Sun Han, and performed by Ryan Miller, currently a post-doctoral fellow at Georgia Tech.
Jonghwi Lee, in the chemical engineering department at Chung-Ang University in South Korea, and Young Jun Kim at the Korean Institute of Science and Technology–Europe, collaborated on the project.
It takes just a few milliseconds: A vesicle, only a few nanometers in size and filled with neurotransmitters, approaches a cell membrane, fuses with it, and releases its chemical messengers into the synaptic cleft—making them available to bind to the next nerve cell.
A team led by Professor Christian Rosenmund of Charité—Universitätsmedizin Berlin has captured this critical moment of brain function in microscopic images. They describe their achievement in the journal Nature Communications.
In a review of previous studies, McMaster University researchers observe a stronger signal for psilocybin as a treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder than cannabinoids.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder involves persistent, intrusive thoughts and repetitive mental or physical behaviors, and requires long-term treatment to alleviate symptoms. The ethology of the disorder appears complex, involving multiple biological pathways. Imbalances in central serotonin, dopamine, and glutamate activities are widely thought to play a causative role, placing neurochemistry at the center of many treatment strategies.
First-line treatment includes selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and cognitive behavioral therapy using exposure and response prevention. Roughly 40–60% of patients remain unresponsive to psychotherapy or pharmacotherapy, alone or combined, placing many people in the category of treatment-resistant OCD.
Are you a social savant who easily reads people’s emotions? Or are you someone who leaves an interaction with an unclear understanding of another person’s emotional state?
New UC Berkeley research suggests that those differences stem from a fundamental way our brains compute facial and contextual details, potentially explaining why some people are better at reading the room than others—sometimes, much better.
Brain imaging of 30,000 people revealed that ultra-processed foods are associated with structural differences in the brain that could fuel overeating.
The study suggests that additives like emulsifiers may influence these effects. While some processed foods are beneficial, ultra-processed products pose a clear risk.
Brain imaging study reveals concerning links to ultra-processed foods.
Scientists have used a specially engineered virus to help track the brain changes caused by psilocybin in mice, revealing how the drug could be breaking loops of depressive thinking.
This may explain why psilocybin keeps showing positive results for people with depression in clinical trials.
“Rumination is one of the main points for depression, where people have this unhealthy focus, and they keep dwelling on the same negative thoughts,” says Cornell University biomedical engineer Alex Kwan.
New in JNeurosci from Wei, Tao, Bi et al: Smokers who have quit their nicotine use have altered brain activity linked to heightened pain sensitivity and a need for more postoperative pain relief.
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Perioperative abstinent smokers experience heightened pain sensitivity and increased postoperative analgesic requirements, likely due to nicotine withdrawal-induced hyperalgesia. However, the underlying neural mechanisms in humans remain unclear. To address this issue, this study enrolled 60 male patients (30 abstinent smokers and 30 nonsmokers) undergoing partial hepatectomy, collecting clinical data, smoking history, pain-related measures, and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). Compared to nonsmokers, abstinent smokers showed lower pain threshold and higher postoperative analgesic requirements. Neuroimaging revealed altered brain function in abstinent smokers, including reduced fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFF, 0.01 – 0.1 Hz) in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), increased regional homogeneity (ReHo) in the left middle occipital gyrus, and decreased functional connectivity (FC) between the vmPFC to both the bilateral middle temporal gyrus and precuneus. Preoperative pain threshold was positively correlated with abstinence duration and specific regional brain activities and connectivity. Further, the observed association between abstinent time and pain threshold was mediated by the calcarine and posterior cingulate cortex activity. The dysfunction in vmPFC and left anterior cingulate cortex was totally mediated by the association between withdrawal symptoms and postoperative analgesic requirements. These findings suggest that nicotine withdrawal might alter brain functional activity and contribute to hyperalgesia for the abstinent smokers. This study provided novel insights into the supraspinal neurobiological mechanisms underlying nicotine withdrawal-induced hyperalgesia and potential therapeutic targets for postoperative pain in abstinent smokers.
Significance statement Abstinent smokers experienced heightened pain and require more analgesics after surgery, yet the underlying neural mechanisms remain poorly understood. This prospective cohort study identified altered regional brain activity associated with reduced pain thresholds and increased postoperative analgesic requirements in abstinent smokers. We found specific brain regions that were functionally altered and correlated with pain-related outcomes, which mediated the relationship between abstinence and pain-related behaviors. These findings provided novel insights into the supraspinal mechanisms of nicotine withdrawal-induced hyperalgesia and point to potential therapeutic targets for improving postoperative pain management in abstinent smokers.