Here is an important reason to stay in touch with friends and family: social isolation causes memory and learning deficits and other behavioral changes. Many brain studies have focused on the effects ...

A newly published study in Protein and Cell identifies glutamine synthetase, an enzyme concentrated in brain support cells ...

A new study reveals that astrocytes—star-shaped support cells traditionally viewed as passive partners of neurons—play a previously underappreciated role in the maturation of coordinated movement.

To enjoy the scent of morning coffee and freshly baked cookies or to perceive the warning smell of something burning, the brain needs two types of cells, neurons and astrocytes, to work closely with ...

When astrocyte function is disrupted, neurons in the brain's motor cortex struggle to execute and refine motion, a new study in mice shows. From steering a car to swinging a tennis racket, we learn to ...

The potential effects of astrocyte dysfunction in neurodegenerative diseases are summarized in Figure 2. AD is characterized clinically by cognitive loss in two or more domains, including memory, ...

Researchers engineer CAR-astrocytes to target and remove amyloid plaques in Alzheimer’s, showing a 50% reduction in brain waste with a single injection.

The new generation of Alzheimer's disease drugs—the first proven to change the course of the disease—typically extend independent living for patients by 10 months. Called monoclonal antibodies, they ...

Researchers have uncovered novel aspects of astrocyte function in olfactory, or smell, perception revealing changes in their gene expression patterns that turn these brain cells into a hub of ...