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:

"Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of fatality and disability worldwide. Despite immense clinical efforts, treatments for TBI remain limited, and better understanding is needed. While most treatments have targeted neuronal cells, another cell type may also have an important role in TBI. Astrocytes, a subtype of brain-resident glial cells, help to control blood flow and maintain homeostasis in the central nervous system. These important cells have dual roles after TBI which must be better understood to improve treatment. During TBI, mechanical damage to neurons and blood vessels occurs instantly. This is followed by pathological processes - neuroinflammation and cell stress - mediated by astrocytes, among others. The astrocyte response is initiated to protect the central nervous system and promote wound healing but may become maladaptive over time as astrocytes can play bidirectional roles in plasticity and reconstruction after TBI..."

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:

"Despite advances in therapy, the prognosis and survival of patients with glioblastoma remain dismal. Part of the reason is poor targeting. The sheer complexity of tumor growth at the molecular scale makes it difficult to pinpoint the origin of gliomas. In recent years, more targeted research has led to the discovery of chains of molecular events that regulate glioma development, including the unusual trafficking of proteins into the nucleus of glioma cells. In a new study, researchers examined this glioma-related behavior for the protein doublecortin (DCX). DCX is a neuronal protein crucial for the formation of new neurons in adulthood and for neuronal migration. While researchers have looked at how glioma cells shuttle different proteins to their nucleus, this marked the first time that scientists zeroed in on DCX. The team found that high accumulation of DCX in the nucleus boosted the invasiveness of glioma cells, whereas blocking the nuclear import of DCX reduced glioma proliferation..."

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:

"The trafficking of proteins into and out of the nucleus is central to cell function In fruit flies, the process also seems to determine the fate of neural stem cells in the larval central brain Neural stem cells are essential to neurogenesis, a two-step process in Drosophila The cells first form during embryogenesis At the end of neurogenesis, the cells divide terminally and exit the cell cycle, producing new neurons A build up of the protein Prospero in the nucleus initiates this exit But what causes this accumulation? Researchers report that Prospero uses RanGAP to shuttle across the nuclear envelope Eliminating RanGAP function doesn’t affect the nuclear import of Prospero, but rather its export out of the nucleus This suggests a drop in RanGAP levels could entrap Prospero in the nucleus, hinting that an intrinsic mechanism determines the fate of neural stem cells in Drosophila and perhaps other organisms as well Wu, D., et al..."

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:

"Stem cells are a promising source for regenerating damaged tissue and treating disease, but finding a safe, reliable, effective source of stem cells is a major challenge. Stem cells derived from discarded placenta present fewer ethical, legal, and technical challenges than embryonic and mesenchymal stem cells, making them of particular interest in the development of stem cell-based treatments. A recent study examined the development of human amniotic epithelial cells (hAECs), a placental stem cell type that is able to differentiate into cells from all germ layers. Researchers analyzed the ability of a natural compound - 3,4,5-Tri-O-Caffeoylquinic Acid (TCQA) – to induce hAEC differentiation in vitro. They found that TCQA treatment enriched pigment and neural cell gene expression along with genes linked to neurogenesis, oxidation-reduction, epidermal development, and metabolism..."

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