In his blog, NIMH Director Dr. Insel talks about the National Research Action Plan, an effort announced by President Obama aimed at improving prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of mental health conditions and traumatic brain injury in military personnel.
Bruce Cuthbert, Ph.D., explains how genetics, imaging, and cognitive science are informing NIMH’s Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) initiative, to lay the foundation for a new mental disorders classification system.
How much are major mental disorders traceable to the same common inherited genetic variations? It turns out that the overlap is highest between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. A new NIH-funded study found overall, this type of genetic cause accounted for 17-28% of risk for the disorders.
Although #schizophrenia usually manifests in youth, the brain disorder starts at birth. Scientists have zeroed in on a network of 50 genes that are turned on in fetal development, dimmed down by childhood, and flicked back on again in early adulthood--just when schizophrenia symptoms typically first develop.
Serious mental illness (SMI) has been a subject of conversation after recent shooting tragedies, but what does “SMI” really mean? Read NIMH Director Dr. Insel’s latest blog discussing SMI and how NIMH is investing in basic research to reduce most disability and mortality.
Bruce Cuthbert, Ph.D., explains how genetics, imaging, and cognitive science are informing NIMH’s Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) initiative, to lay the foundation for a new mental disorders classification system.
How much are major mental disorders traceable to the same common inherited genetic variations? It turns out that the overlap is highest between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. A new NIH-funded study found overall, this type of genetic cause accounted for 17-28% of risk for the disorders.
Although #schizophrenia usually manifests in youth, the brain disorder starts at birth. Scientists have zeroed in on a network of 50 genes that are turned on in fetal development, dimmed down by childhood, and flicked back on again in early adulthood--just when schizophrenia symptoms typically first develop.
Serious mental illness (SMI) has been a subject of conversation after recent shooting tragedies, but what does “SMI” really mean? Read NIMH Director Dr. Insel’s latest blog discussing SMI and how NIMH is investing in basic research to reduce most disability and mortality.
Caption: A living cortical neuron in a culture dish. Red and green dots reveal synapses—potential communication junctions between neurons.
Credit: Don Arnold, University of Southern California
Credit: Don Arnold, University of Southern California
This glittering web is actually a live nerve cell, or neuron, in which its branches are labeled with glowing probes. Each dot reveals a potential junction between neurons—called a synapse—where chemicals are released allowing the cells to talk to each other. The red dots reveal inhibitory synapses—which silence electrical signals—whereas the green dots show the excitatory synapses that promote electrical signals.
The balance of inhibitory and excitatory pulses affects the behavior of the neuron. With this new labeling technique, NIH-funded researchers from the University of Southern California have given us a real time window into the complex microscopic anatomy of a neuron without interfering with its function. For a long time it has been thought that when a memory is stored, the pattern of synapses on individual neurons changes. Now we can watch in real time as that happens, both in healthy neurons and in neurons in animals where synapses do not change appropriately; for instance in animal models of autism, mental retardation, or Alzheimer’s disease.
Reference:
[1] Recombinant probes for visualizing endogenous synaptic proteins in living neurons. Gross GG, Junge JA, Mora RJ, Kwon HB, Olson CA, Takahashi TT, Liman ER, Ellis-Davies GC, McGee AW, Sabatini BL, Roberts RW, Arnold DB. Neuron. 2013 Jun 19;78(6):971-85.
[1] Recombinant probes for visualizing endogenous synaptic proteins in living neurons. Gross GG, Junge JA, Mora RJ, Kwon HB, Olson CA, Takahashi TT, Liman ER, Ellis-Davies GC, McGee AW, Sabatini BL, Roberts RW, Arnold DB. Neuron. 2013 Jun 19;78(6):971-85.
NIH support: National Institute of General Medical Science, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
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