When it comes to brain function, neurons get a lot of the glory. But healthy brains depend on the cooperation of many kinds ...

Astrocytes are star shaped cells that make up around 35% of human brain cells. They were once thought of as cells that simply supported neurons in the central nervous system (CNS). But in recent years ...

A new platform for screening astrocyte reactivity helps researchers uncover potential therapeutic interventions to treat neurodegenerative conditions. Led by postdoctoral researcher Benjamin Clayton, ...

We will begin by highlighting a subset of the many cellular functions of astrocytes, focusing specifically on those functions that have the most relevance to neurodegeneration (Figure 1). Other ...

As a neuromodulator, norepinephrine is a powerful force in the brain. We all know it orchestrates rapid changes in behavior such as the fight-or-flight response. Fewer people know that astrocytes ...

Resting brain stem cells hardly differ from normal astrocytes, which support the nerve cells in the brain. How can almost identical cells perform such different functions? The key lies in the ...

“If we go back to the early 1900s, this is when the idea was first proposed that memories are physically stored in some location within the brain,” says Michael R. Williamson, a researcher at the ...

A study by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine may change the way we understand memory. Until now, memories have been explained by the activity of neurons that respond to learning events and ...

Past neuroscience studies found that when the central nervous system (CNS) is damaged, for instance following a stroke or spinal cord injuries, the lesions become surrounded by borders of newly ...