MBF Bioscience Blog

[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...

[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...

[caption id="attachment_5670" align="aligncenter" width="210"] Drs. May-Britt and Edvard Moser Image from GEIR MOGEN / NTNU[/caption]   Drs. May-Britt and Edvard Moser were awarded the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering the cells that form a network for spatial navigation in the brain, and we're proud to say they are MBF Bioscience customers and used Neurolucida in their research.   In 2006, the Norwegian husband and wife...

[caption id="attachment_5617" align="alignnone" width="700"] This image stack was used in the study to analyze spine density. Image courtesy of Tara Chowdhury, Ph.D. first author of the study.[/caption]   To find out how anorexia nervosa changes the brain, scientists at New York University are studying a rat model of the disease called activity-based anorexia (ABA). Previously, they discovered that ABA rats develop unusually robust dendritic branching of neurons...

A baby laughs at an elephant at the zoo. A toddler runs across a beach. Small children make memories all the time, but how many will they recall as the years pass? Maybe none at all. The phenomenon is called “infantile amnesia,” and scientists may have pinpointed a reason for why it occurs – neurogenesis.   Researchers at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto say that...