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A neuron’s neighbors

March 14, 2025

… the astrocytes’ ability to signal neurons with calcium. This not only undermined the smoothness of the … on astrocytes. It triggers a sustained increase in their calcium levels. That promotes them to release chemicals that …

Key roles for astrocytes

… waste clearance, and regulation of the ions such as calcium that help them build up or disperse electric charge. … step with their neighboring neurons. Furthermore, blocking calcium signals in astrocytes, without affecting neurons, … or blood oxygenation signals that lie at the core of brain imaging methods such as functional magnetic resonance imaging …

From Molecules to Memory

December 20, 2024

With new grant, MIT neuroscientists will give 'invisible' cells a new look

February 08, 2018

… astrocytes do signal their activity with increases of calcium. A decade ago in Science , Sur and colleagues used … formation of neural connections called synapses, how the calcium activity arises, and what difference that activity … is first developing. Using sophisticated and precise imaging tools, Sur’s team will monitor astrocyte and neuron …

Fruit fly models of human disease

… caused non-neural “glial” cells to retain too much calcium. By 2019 they found out how that led to seizures. The excess of calcium overactivated a protein called calcineurin. That …

Cracking the code that relates brain and behavior in a simple animal

August 21, 2023

… and flexibility of its nervous system C. elegans behavior calcium imaging … neuron in its head (cells are engineered to flash when calcium ions build up). Reliably distinguishing and tracking …

Study suggests new molecular strategy for treating fragile X syndrome

February 20, 2025

… from their seminal work in the 1990s that the flow of calcium ions through NMDA receptor can trigger a form of …

Young Picower scientists present projects at ‘SfN’

November 12, 2021

… to ourselves?” Above: Wilson lab postdoc Wei Guo, employed calcium imaging of neural activity to show that over the course of … postdoc Jie Zhang debuted a new camera that enables vivid imaging of electrical activity in neurons. Even if remotely, …

From molecular to whole-brain scale in a simple animal, study reveals serotonin’s effects

May 15, 2023

… manipulation. Finally, Flavell’s team has developed imaging technologies that enable them to track and map neural … their ability to track all neuron activity (based on their calcium fluctuations) and all behaviors to watch how the … neuron was impacted by serotonin. “We performed brain-wide calcium imaging in freely-moving animals with knowledge of …

Autism advances

June 16, 2025

… trafficked within neurons to create channels for importing calcium and exporting potassium ions. Those electrochemical …