The optical fractionator probe was used to quantify the number of neurons and glia in the dentate gyrus Doctors have used lithium to treat patients with bipolar disorder since the 1970s. Known for its efficacy in stabilizing patients' moods by regulating manic episodes, lithium is also associated with a decreased risk of suicide. But while this naturally occurring element is the most widely prescribed medication for...
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[caption id="attachment_6403" align="aligncenter" width="632"] This figure illustrates the separate and combined effects of acute stress and fear conditioning/extinction on dendritic morphology of pyramidal neurons in the infralimbic region of medial prefrontal cortex. Each neuron shown is a composite made up of apical (blue) and basilar (orange) arbor near the mean of the group. The apical and basilar arbors of each composite are from different neurons....
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[caption id="attachment_6326" align="aligncenter" width="600"] An immunostained image of myelin basic protein in the cerebella of a mouse brain with an iron-sufficient diet compared with the brain of a mouse exposed to alcohol and fed an iron-insufficient diet. It shows the reduced cerebellar size due to the ID-alcohol combination. Green is MBP immunostain, blue is DAPI for nuclei. Image courtesy of Susan Smith, PhD.[/caption] If a pregnant...
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[caption id="attachment_6175" align="aligncenter" width="480"] Phosphorylated tau pS422 immunoreactive profiles (dark brown) in the cortex of P301S mice after repetitive mild TBI. Image courtesy of Dr. Leyan Xu, Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University.[/caption] Over the course of a football game or a boxing match, athletes may experience a series of mild concussions. Some of these athletes develop a condition known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a...
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How the brain works and how the brain is affected by disease are mysteries in large part because neurons are so dynamic, numerous, and complex. Neurolucida 360, a revolutionary, new software product from MBF Bioscience, enables neuroscientists to uncover more information about neurons at a faster rate. “Neurolucida 360 is a technological revolution” says Jack Glaser, President of MBF Bioscience. “It is the state-of-the-art tool for neuroscientists to analyze...
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[caption id="attachment_6094" align="alignright" width="231"] Micrograph of cholinergic neurons in the nucleus basalis of Meynert. Image from Wikipedia.[/caption] Cholinergic neurons degenerate at devastating rates in Alzheimer's disease, but Dr. Mark Tuszynski and his team at the University of California, San Diego may have found a way to slow the decline. Their study, published in JAMA Neurology, reports that nerve growth factor gene therapy increased the size, axonal sprouting, and signaling of cholinergic neurons...
Read More [caption id="attachment_5635" align="aligncenter" width="584"] Representative dendrites of dentate gyrus neurons of Siberian hamsters injected with melatonin (stained with Cresyl violet). Ikeno et al found hamsters injected with melatonin displayed decreased spine density on neurons in the dentate gyrus. Image courtesy of Tomoko Ikeno, Ph.D.[/caption] Night falls and a powerful hormone called melatonin kicks in. The gears of the circadian clock are turning as you get ready...
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In 2014 researchers used Stereo Investigator in 698 peer-reviewed papers - citing it almost three times more than all other stereology systems combined. Researchers tell us they use Stereo Investigator because: it works with many different microscopes and imaging technologies it provides unbiased data about neuron populations and regions of interest it comes with strong technical and research support provided by MBF Bioscience [caption id="attachment_5790" align="alignnone" width="1394"] source: google scholar[/caption] Dr. Mark West, co-developer of...
Read More [caption id="attachment_5546" align="aligncenter" width="401"] A representative confocal image of spinal cord tissue fluorescently immunolabeled for SC121 (red) in conjunction with GFAP (green) – markers that allowed researchers to quantify stem cell differentiation and migration. (Image provided by study author Dr. Aileen J. Anderson)[/caption] Research has shown that transplanting human neural stem cells into damaged spinal cords restores locomotor function in a mouse model of spinal cord injury1. Researchers...
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[caption id="attachment_5745" align="aligncenter" width="307"] Golgi-stained human brain tissue from the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.[/caption] Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are very different mental illnesses, but researchers are discovering evidence that the two disorders have some common pathologies. According to a recent study, a shared characteristic appears to be dendritic spine loss. The researchers used Neurolucida to study pyramidal cells in human brain tissue from individuals with schizophrenia (n=14), individuals with bipolar...
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