Brain injuries can result in significant damage to the cerebral cortex, and restoring the cellular architecture of the tissue remains challenging. Here, the authors use a droplet printing technique to fabricate a simplified human cerebral cortical column and demonstrate its functionality and potential for future personalized therapy approaches.
Category: neuroscience
Atomic swap in morphine core structure leads to safer, non-rewarding opioid alternative
One of the greatest revolutions in the field of pain medication was the isolation of morphine from the opium poppy in the 19th century. Morphine molecules act as painkillers by attaching themselves to the µ-opioid receptor (MOR) in the central nervous system and blocking the brain from sending pain signals to the rest of the body. This potent opioid analgesic also has side effects such as constipation, respiratory depression, and even serious addiction problems.
A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has found that a single heavy atom replacement in the morphine core structure can transform its pharmacological behavior, resulting in reduced respiratory depression and no evidence of reward behavior—a key component of addiction tendencies—even at high doses.
Based on the insight that core-atom changes to the opioid drug molecule may exhibit biological effects distinct from the parent compound, the researchers developed a 15-step total synthesis of a morphine derivative where an oxygen atom in the E-ring is replaced with a methylene (CH2) group and called the new derivative carbamorphine.
Childhood trauma shapes adult stress appraisal and mental health outcomes, research reveals
University of Leeds psychologists report that stress appraisal and perceived stress act as key conduits linking childhood trauma to adult depression, anxiety, defeat, and entrapment.
Childhood trauma affects nearly one third of young people in the United Kingdom. Early experiences of abuse or neglect have been associated with depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and substance use later in life.
Exposure to multiple types of trauma has been linked to higher rates of suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts. Females who experience childhood sexual abuse can face substantially elevated risks of attempting suicide compared to peers without such histories.
You only get one brain: The best helmet material for protecting your noggin
Though participation in sports can have positive impacts both physiologically and socially, extreme sports, like football and roller derby, come with elevated risks. In a 2019 study, over 40% of 498 athletes suffered at least one injury over the course of the year.
These injury rates are even higher in elite cricket—around 70%, with about 13% of all injuries being to the head, neck, and face—pointing to a need for improvements in protective helmets.
In AIP Advances, researchers from Chongqing Jiaotong University and Chongqing No. 7 Middle School compared the performance of three helmet materials under the most common types of impact and loading conditions.
Smartphone sensors reveal mental health patterns through daily behavior tracking
Smartphones can help people stay healthy by monitoring their sleep, steps and heart rate, but they also can help reveal issues tied to mental health, new research shows.
In a study published in JAMA Network Open, researchers from the University of Michigan, University of Minnesota and University of Pittsburgh used smartphone sensors as silent observers of daily life. These digital footprints tracked simple actions, such as how much we move, sleep or check our phones but also provided surprising insights into how our psychological well-being manifests in everyday routines.
The researchers found that many different mental disorders share similar behavior patterns, like staying home more, sleeping late and not charging phones often. Such behaviors may show someone’s level of something called the “p-factor,” which links many mental health issues.
Scientists unravel how a tiny region of the brain helps us form distinct memories
Life may unfold as a continuous stream, but our memories tell a different story. We do not recall the past as one long, unbroken text. Instead, we remember it as a series of meaningful events, like how sentences are structured with grammar and punctuation. Like any narrative, this organization gives our experiences shape and coherence, helping us make sense of what and when things happen.
The brain must devote a lot of space to this herculean task, right?
Wrong! It turns out that a tiny but mighty region pulls far more than its weight.
Single-neuron projectomes of macaque prefrontal cortex reveal primate-specific connectivity principle
In a study published in Cell on July 10, researchers reported the first comprehensive study of whole-brain projectomes of the macaque prefrontal cortex (PFC) at the single-neuron level and revealed the organization of macaque PFC connectivity.
The team from the Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology (CEBSIT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, along with a team from the HUST-Suzhou Institute for Brainsmatics, compared macaque and mouse PFC single-neuron projectomes and revealed highly refined axon targeting and arborization in primates.
The PFC in primates, including humans, has dramatically expanded over the course of evolution, which is believed to be the structural basis of high cognitive functions. Previous studies of PFC connectivity in non-human primates have mainly relied on population-level viral tracing and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which in general lack single-cell resolution to examine projection diversity. Meanwhile, whole-brain imaging data for tracing axons in the primate brain are massive in size.