When Pavlov's dogs started salivating in response to a ringing bell, something happened in their brains—a memory was encoded. Over a century later scientists are still figuring out how memories are physically represented in the brain. One lingering question has been whether or not the same set of neurons is activated when a particular memory is formed. Researchers at the Johnson Lab at the Uniformed...
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What would you do with a neuron if you could activate its synapses in any combination you wanted? Tiago Branco, Beverley A. Clark and Michael Hauser created a chance to do just that (Branco, 2010). The authors, using in-vitro brain slices containing layer II/III pyramidal cells in visual or somatosensory cortex of rats, were able to excite identified spines in any order and with whatever...
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The microscopic world just got a whole lot clearer for scientists around the world who use MBF Bioscience software. When images are magnified as intensely as they are in today's world of highly advanced scientific research, they don't always appear crystal clear. But by incorporating the clarifying process of deconvolution to microscopic images, previously hidden details emerge, allowing scientists to work with greater facility. Deconvolution is...
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Scientific research shows that women are twice as likely as men to develop stress disorders. Why are women more sensitive than men to stress? A recent research study presents new evidence that estrogen could play a role. The symptoms of disorders like major depressive disorder and post traumatic stress disorder lead neuroscientists to speculate that a dysfunction occurs in the way the medial prefrontal cortex connects...
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Myelin, which insulates axons in the central nervous system is produced by oligodendrocytes. But not all oligodendrocytes are equal. Led by Dr. Jonathan Vinet of the Université Laval in Quebec, scientists have identified three different types of oligodendrocytes in the mouse hippocampus: "ramified," "stellar," and "smooth." Each type displayed varying morphological characteristics, mainly in shape, volume, and branching behavior, which led the researchers to believe that the...
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University of Maryland School of Medicine researchers have used Neurolucida since it was in its embryonic stages in the 1960s. Now, nearly a half-century later, the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology continues using Neurolucida in their research, as outlined in a recent study concerning the organization of the olfactory system. Dr. Michael Shipley and his team collaborated with scientists from Hungary and Japan on the paper...
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Birds and mammals hear binaurally, hearing sounds through two ears. Binaural hearing allows them to determine which direction a sound came from—a pivotal element of survival. Doctors Armin H. Seidl, Edwin W. Rubel, and David M. Harris of Seattle’s Virginia Merrill Bloedel Hearing Research Center at the University of Washington recently published a study in the Journal of Neuroscience that may encourage scientists to think in...
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If you start smoking as a teen, it’s much harder to quit. University of Vermont Neurobiologist Rae Nishi wants to find out why. And thanks to a $1 million Challenge Grant, Nishi and her team will be able to further study the way adolescent brains react to nicotine. The grant is one of 200 National Institute of Health grants allocated by the American Recovery and Reinvestment...
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The developing and adult central nervous system of the mouse is complex and large. NIH Neuroscientist Dr. Charles Gerfen uses Neurolucida and NeuroInfo to collect, display, and share virtual slides with the research community. Recently, Dr. Gerfen requested software enhancements to better allow him to categorize and use his virtual slide data in mouse brain testing. We were happy to comply. Dr. Gerfen explains how he uses...
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Neurolucida is used for reconstruction and morphometric analysis of neurons and anatomical regions of interest. Neurolucida can also be used for quantitative and qualitative analysis of dendritic spines. Spines are small, often bulbous protrusions that emerge from the dendritic shaft. They are the main site of excitatory synapses in the brain [1], and they range in length from 0.001 to 1mm and range in diameter...
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