Microtubule

What is the central nervous system? It’s a system which consists of the nerves in the brain and spinal cord. It gathers information about and reacts to internal and external stimulus. Don’t Shoot the Messenger Much of the CNS is made up of neurons. Each neuron has a cell body, which includes a soma with a nucleus, a nucleolus, a cytoplasm called the perikaryon, and wide branching extensions called dendrites. Dendrites are like antennae which receive signals from other neurons or body cells.…

Cell cycle overview The role of the cell cycle is to allow a cell to increase its mass, acquire nutrients, duplicate DNA and divide into daughter cells. There are three stages within the cell cycle, interphase, mitotic (M) phase and cytokinesis. Interphase is further divided into Gap 1 (G1), Synthesis (S) and Gap 2 (G2) where the main agenda for the cell is to grow, and obtain nutrients in preparation for the next phase. The next stage is the M phase and includes four consecutive events,…

Silicosis, a life threatening lung disease that can severely harm your ability to breathe. Starting in 1955, the Berkeley Pit became well known as a large truck-operated, open-air copper mine in Butte Montana. The unusually high copper prices resulted in the Anaconda Copper Mining Company opening many pit mines, including the Berkeley Pit. Buying up two communities and a lot of Butte’s previous population, the company was able to clear out a pit site. But after the discovery of very acidic…

The role of oxysterols in human body and disease 1. Introduction Oxysterols are 27-carbon derivatives of cholesterol created by spontaneous or enzymatic oxidation (Figure 1, (Brown and Jessup, 2009)). The oxidation of cholesterol occurs either on the side chain or on the sterol core. Side chain oxidation generates, e.g., 24-hydroxycholesterol (24-HC), 25-hydroxycholesterol (25-HC) or 27-hydroxycholesterol (27-HC) while the core oxidation gives rise to ring oxysterols, mostly ring-B oxysterols,…

neuritic plaques which contain excess deposits of B-amyloid protein. The B-amyloid fragments clump together into plaques that impair the function of nerve cell in the brain. Second brain change is neurofibrillary tangles in the cortex which causes the microtubules to disintegrate and collapse the neuron’s transport system. These brain changes lead to a loss or degeneration of neurons and synapses, especially within the neocortex and hippocampus. Reduction in serotonin receptors, serotonin uptake…

In 1935, the first plasma membrane structure model was introduced by Danielli and Davson. They proposed that the membrane is made of phospholipid bilayer that consists of hydrophobic head and the hydrophilic tail. Hydrophilic head, which is polar, facing towards the water molecules and said to be coated with protein. Hydrophilic tail, which is non-polar is not facing water molecules and sandwiched between the two bilayers. At regular intervals of the surface of the plasma membrane, there are…

IV. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy Another major facet of sports-related concussions is Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) as it’s considered to be a gradual neurodegeneration due to repeated mTBI (Gavett et al., 2011). Since there are many high-contact sports (such as football, hockey, boxing, etc.) as well as high chances of accidental injury in non-contact sports – repeated head injuries are very common (Gavett et al., 2011). This is another reason sports-related concussions…

A look at Alzheimer’s disease One of the things that terrify people the most about aging is no remembering your loved ones or forgetting the great adventures you had in your youth. Unfortunately there are many cases of people who establish a disease called Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s is taking the lives of many people and directly affecting their families. People who have never heard of Alzheimer’s have many questions, they want to know what Alzheimer’s is , what causes it,…

The SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cell line was procured from National Centre for Cell Sciences, India and maintained in (DMEM) (Sigma Aldrich, USA) and Ham 's F12 nutrient mixture (F12) (Sigma Aldrich, USA) in 1:1 ratio. The medium was supplemented with 2 mmol L-glutamine (HiMedia, India), 10% (v/v) heat inactivated fetal bovine serum (FBS) (Hyclone Laboratories, Logan, UT) and 1% antibiotics (penicillin/streptomycin). Cells were cultured at 37 ºC in a humidified CO2 ¬incubator containing 5% CO2 and…

Important Vocabulary (highlighted in the handout): Stimulus, neurons, dendrites, neurotransmitters, axon, myelin, action potential, graded potential, transmembrane potential, neuroglia, cerebrum, spinal cord What is the central nervous system? It’s a system which consists of the nerves in the brain and spinal cord. This system only makes up about 3% of a human’s body weight but serves a vital function, gathering information about and reacting to its environment and any stimulus. Don’t Shoot the…