neurons

[AB Science SA] AB Science SA announced that it has received the first authorization to resume patient enrollment in the confirmatory Phase III study of masitinib in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Masitinib is a orally administered tyrosine kinase inhibitor that targets mast cells and macrophages, important cells for immunity, through inhibiting a limited number of kinases.

[Acta Neuropathologica Communications] In mouse models, investigators assessed whether dextran sodium sulfate-mediated colitis could exert lingering effects on dopaminergic pathways in the brain and whether colitis increased vulnerability to a subsequent exposure to the dopaminergic neurotoxicant 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine.

[Scientific Reports] Researchers showed for the first time the in vitro and in vivo neuroprotective effects of AZP2006 in neurons injured with Aβ1–42 and in two different pathological animal models of Alzheimer’s disease and aging.

[npj Parkinson's Disease] Researchers employed molecular biology, electrophysiology, and live-cell imaging to investigate how excessive α-synuclein expression altered multiple characteristics of dopaminergic neuronal dynamics and dopamine transmission in cultured dopamine neurons conditionally expressing GCaMP6f.

[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America] Researchers showed that most striatal astrocyte-derived neurons were confined to the anterior medial striatum, did not express established striatal neuronal markers, and exhibited dendritic spines, which were atypical for striatal interneurons.

[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America] Scientists examined how changes in Ra at the axon hillock impact the voltage threshold (Vth) of the somatic action potential in L5 pyramidal neurons. Increasing Ra by mechanically pinching the axon between the soma and the axon initial segment was found to lower Vth by ∼6 mV.