This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Traumatic brain injury (TBI), or brain damage caused by a sudden blow or jolt to the head, is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. The mechanisms are complex and differ among patients, making TBI difficult to treat, and anti-inflammatory agents that are effective in animal models have been less promising in human trials, indicating that better treatments are needed. To explore new strategies, a recent study investigated the effect of the anti-inflammatory compound ACT001 on TBI. In mice, ACT001 reduced brain damage and improved motor function after TBI by reducing trauma-induced activation of microglia, which are immune cells of the central nervous system. In vitro, ACT001 also reduced activation of mouse and rat microglia induced by the bacterial toxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and downregulated LPS-induced secretion of proinflammatory molecules in a mouse microglial cell line..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"There may be a silver lining for those at high risk for Alzheimer’s: as the chance of getting the disease goes up, certain treatments may become more effective. The risk of developing Alzheimer’s largely relies on a gene called APOE, with different variants conferring more or less risk. Usually, having a high-risk allele is bad news, but a group of researchers from New York University has reported that carrying the high-risk allele could actually boost responsiveness to immunotherapy, a promising new treatment option. The APOE gene helps determine how much beta-amyloid accumulates in the brain. Beta-amyloid starts as small misfolded bits of protein that clump together to form the plaques that are the hallmark of Alzheimer’s. As the plaques appear, the brain deteriorates, particularly in regions associated with memory. One way to potentially halt this process is to use antibodies that recognize beta-amyloid. The antibodies bind to the protein and signal to the immune system to clear it out..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"A recent study published in Acta Neuropathologica Communications has found a potential mechanism for the initiation and development of Parkinson’s disease and it appears red blood cells may be partly to blame. Parkinson’s is a chronic and progressive neurodegenerative disorder commonly associated with tremors, muscle stiffness, and impaired movement. While these symptoms are caused by the deterioration of nerve cells in the brain, the precise cause of the disease is still not fully understood. What is known is that the development of Parkinson’s is associated with the aggregation of toxic forms of a protein named alpha-synuclein (or alpha-syn, for short) in the brain. Recent evidence, however, suggests alpha-syn found in the blood can also be problematic and this has been implicated as a contributor to brain-cell breakdown..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

Biology is designed for multi-semester biology courses for science majors. It is grounded on an evolutionary basis and includes exciting features that highlight careers in the biological sciences and everyday applications of the concepts at hand. To meet the needs of today’s instructors and students, some content has been strategically condensed while maintaining the overall scope and coverage of traditional texts for this course. Instructors can customize the book, adapting it to the approach that works best in their classroom. Biology also includes an innovative art program that incorporates critical thinking and clicker questions to help students understand—and apply—key concepts.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:List and describe the functions of the structural components of a neuronList and describe the four main types of neuronsCompare the functions of different types of glial cells

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Nutrient-poor diets can increase the risk of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, and diets poor in fiber are widespread, especially in industrialized nations. However, whether fiber deficiency—which alters the gut microbiota—impairs cognition through the gut–brain axis remains unclear. To find out, researchers recently analyzed mice fed a fiber-deficient diet for 15 weeks. Compared to normal mice, the fiber-deficient mice exhibited cognitive impairment and were unable to complete typical activities like nest organization. In addition, the synapses in the brain area regulating cognitive function were damaged, and neuroinflammation occurred. Immune cells called microglia (indicated by Iba1) engulfed synapses (indicated by PSD-95) in the fiber-deficient mice. Furthermore, the fiber-deficient mice exhibited gut microbiota disruption that was associated with, and possibly responsible for, the cognitive deficits..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Estrogen receptor α, or ERα, is believed to play a central role in controlling inflammation. Research suggests that ERα does that by regulating anti-inflammatory signaling in the microglia, the only immune cells that reside in the brain. Now, a new study confirms ERα’s beneficial role in the brains of mice. The work explored one mechanism believed to prime ERα to fight inflammation, the attachment of a phosphoryl group to a specific amino acid in ERα’s structure -- a process known as “phosphorylation”. To test that mechanism, researchers blocked the phosphorylation of ERα in microglia from mice. That absence, it turned out, compromised the cells’ defenses against inflammation – leaving mice vulnerable to negative effects. For example, some mice with blocked ERα phosphorylation were obese and showed weakened motor skills. Further study could help explain how phosphorylated ERα regulates brain immunity and inflammation in brain diseases..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"A new study suggests that transferring gut microbes from aged to young adult mice has measurable effects on parts of the central nervous system, highlighting the importance of the gut–brain axis in aging. Researchers performed fecal transplants from aged or age-matched donors to younger adult mice. The two groups showed significant differences in their microbial profiles. After transplantation, young adult recipients showed no significant changes in markers of anxiety, explorative behavior, or locomotor activity. But recipients did show impaired spatial learning and memory, as measured by a maze test. These changes were paralleled by alterations in the expression of proteins associated with synaptic plasticity and neurotransmission and changes in microglial cells in the hippocampus — the learning and memory center of the brain..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Extracellular vesicles (EVs) function in many physiological events ranging from normal cellular activity to pathogenic processes. Some EVs prepared in vitro have exhibited therapeutic effects in preclinical models of immune or neurodegenerative disease. In a recent study, researchers generated EVs enriched with HSPB8 (small heat shock protein B8) in vitro from oligodendroglia (OLs). HSPB8 protects cells from oxidative stress-mediated cell death by supporting autophagic activity and could be carried by EVs. Both the native OL-EVs and the HSPB8-enriched OL-EVs were internalized by a microglial cell line and primary mixed neural cultures without inducing cell death. The HSPB8-enriched OL-EVs increased the endogenous production of HSPB8 mRNA. Both EV subsets helped maintain cellular homeostasis during chronic inflammation by increasing autophagic vesicle formation..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"People often take probiotics to supplement the community of microbes living in their gut and maintain their digestive health. But can gut microbes also have an important effect on the brain? New evidence indicates that they can, with possible key roles in neurologic disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). While treatment with antibiotics to manipulate the gut microbiota has been shown to improve neurologic symptoms, it can worsen them in SOD1 mice, which are often used to study ALS. To better understand the role of gut microbes in ALS, scientists either depleted the gut microbiota of SOD1 mice with antibiotics or augmented it by housing SOD1 with non-SOD1 mice to encourage microbial transfer. The antibiotic treatment decreased motor function and survival in the SOD1 mice, while cohabitation with non-SOD1 mice had no effect..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. TBI’s mechanism is complex, but it may involve a particular type of cell death called pyroptosis, especially among brain cells known as microglia. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), such as the stem cells in umbilical cords, have recently been found to regulate pyroptosis, but it’s unclear whether transplanted MSCs could help alleviate pyroptosis after TBI. To find out, researchers recently administered human umbilical cord MSCs and the MSC-secreted protein TSG-6 into the brains of mice with induced TBI. Both the MSCs and the TSG-6 protein alleviated neurological deficits in the TBI mice. They also reduced inflammatory molecule expression and inhibited microglial pyroptosis in the cerebral cortex. The MSCs’ beneficial effects were weakened when TSG-6 expression was inhibited, confirming the importance of this molecule..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.