New research suggests that lab-grown cells express a broad array of natural and potent protective agents providing preservation and protection against injury, toxins and diseases.

A group of really brainy scientists have moved closer to growing "therapeutic" brain cells in the laboratory that can be re-integrated back into patients' brains to treat a wide range of neurological conditions. According to new research published online in The FASEB Journal, brain cells from a small biopsy can be used to grow large numbers of new personalized cells that are not only "healthy," but also possess powerful attributes to preserve and protect the brain from future injury, toxins and diseases. Scientists are hopeful that ultimately these cells could be transformed in the laboratory to yield specific cell types needed for a particular treatment, or to cross the "blood-brain barrier" by expressing specific therapeutic agents that are released directly into the brain.
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"I think these findings have huge implications for brain injury patients"

By discovering a mechanism by which mitochondria – tiny structures inside cells often described as "power plants" – signal that they are damaged and need to be eliminated, the Pitt team has opened the door to potential research into cures for disorders such as Parkinson’s disease that are believed to be caused by dysfunctional mitochondria in neurons.
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Findings in bacteria, yeast, mice show how flawed transport gene contributes to the condition.

Scientists say mutations in one such autism-linked gene, dubbed NHE9, which is involved in transporting substances in and out of structures within the cell, causes communication problems among brain cells that likely contribute to autism.
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RNA editing has emerged as a way to diversify not just the proteome but the transcriptome overall

A research team centered at Brown University has compiled the largest and most stringently validated list of RNA editing sites in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, a stalwart of biological research.
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Understanding RNA biology in dendrites may inform neurological and psychiatric illness therapeutics

Knowing how proteins are made to order – as it were – at the synapse can help researchers better understand how memories are made. Nevertheless, the role of this “local” environment in regulating which messenger RNAs are translated into proteins in a neuron’s periphery is still a mystery.
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Although heavily studied, the specific genetic causes of "complex diseases," a category of disorders which includes autism, diabetes and heart disease, are largely unknown due to byzantine genetic and environmental interactions.

The majority of human diseases are complex and caused by a combination of genetic, environmental and lifestyle factors. On the other end of the spectrum are Mendelian diseases such as cystic fibrosis and sickle-cell anemia, which are caused by abnormalities to a single gene. Some Mendelian disorders are known to predispose patients to certain complex diseases, but these co-occurrences have thus far only been studied on a small-scale basis.
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Moderate reductions in body temperature can improve outcomes after a person suffers a traumatic brain injury (TBI).

The animals treated with hypothermia had significantly improved behavioral scores and a greater number of surviving neurons compared to the normothermia group. The hypothermia-treated group also had significantly reduced levels of proteins that are produced by hippocampal tissue in the brain following TBI and that have been linked to increased severity of brain injury and subsequent cognitive dysfunction and possibly central nervous system disorders.
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Exon-skipping technology as a viable platform to develop a treatment for Duchenne, and Duchenne families should not give up hope.

Anecdotal reports, and data from small clinical trials, have raised hopes that a new genetic technique called exon skipping may slow the progression of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, finally yielding a treatment for which parents have prayed for decades. Scientists say the technique or related ones might also point the way to treatments for other inherited diseases, including Huntington’s.
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Research on synapse stabilization could aid understanding of autism, schizophrenia, intellectual disability

SIRP alpha, a protein found on the surface of various cells throughout the body, appears to play a key role in the process of cementing the most active synaptic connections between brain cells. The research, done in mouse brains, was funded by the National Institutes of Health and several foundations.The findings boost understanding of basic brain development – and may aid research on conditions like autism, schizophrenia, epilepsy and intellectual disability, all of which have some basis in abnormal synapse function.
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Activating a mother’s immune system during her pregnancy disrupts the development of neural cells in the brain of her offspring and damages the cells' ability to transmit signals and communicate with one another.

“This is the first evidence that neurons in the developing brain of newborn offspring are altered by maternal immune activation,” McAllister said. “Until now, very little has been known about how maternal immune activation leads to autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia-like pathophysiology and behaviors in the offspring.”
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