Benefits of Cholesterol to Brain Development

In the Greek language, the word Glia means “glue”. Historically, these non-neural cells were known as the glue of the nervous system since they seemed to fill up the space between neurons. (The Human Brain, An introduction to Its Functional Anatomy, 4th Edition- John Nolte). However, this is not completely true and despite the lack of any evidence that binding nerve cells together is among the many functions of glial cells, the name has

This experiment was done to determine the main purpose Muller cells, a type of glial cell, and its cell regions have in the body. The Muller cell’s endfoot was of particular interest, and scientists wanted to observe the affects the endfoot has on conductance and resistance, as well as its overall purpose. The results from this experiment could then provide us with a more generalized view of the purpose that other glial cells, especially astrocytes, have in the brain. It was hypothesized that if most of the Muller cell’s conductance was located in the endfoot, then the resistance in the endfoot would also vary significantly compared to the rest of the cell and this would have huge impacts on how potassium ions removed from

The central nervous system (CNS) comprises grey matter, which contains neuron cell bodies and white matter, which contains the nerve axons. Most of the nerve axons are concentrically wrapped around by lipid-rich biological membrane, known as the myelin sheath. In the CNS, myelin is produced by oligodendrocyte. a type of glial cell. (Pfeiffer et al., 1993). These electrical insulating, multilamellar membranes significantly increase the electrical resistance, in which to prevent leakage of electrical currents from the axons, as well as decrease electrical capacitance to reduce the ability of the axons to store electrical energy (Shivane &

the brain, such as neurons, glial cells, and how its billions of neural connections make up the

Glial cells make up 90 percent of the brain's cells. Glial cells are nerve cells that don't carry nerve impulses. The various glial (meaning "glue") cells perform many important functions, including: digestion of parts of dead neurons, manufacturing myelin for neurons, providing physical and nutritional support for neurons, and more. Types of glial cells include Schwann's Cells, Satellite Cells, Microglia,

While it is beneficial to acknowledge the connection between cholesterol and heart health, it is equally critical to take into account their general contexts and ponder the countless

Because of the lack of β-hexosaminidase A, the body cannot break down excess GM2 ganglioside and the fatty substance is able to build up profusely in the nerves and tissues of the brain.

Glial cells are the most numerous cells in the brain, outnumbering neurons nearly 3:1, although smaller and some lacking axonal and dendritic projections. Once thought to play a subpar role to neurons, glial cells are now recognized as responsible for much greater functions. There are many types of glial cells, including: oligodendrocytes, microglia, and astrocytes. Oligodendrocytes form the myelin sheath in the CNS, by wrapping themselves around the axons of neurons. Their PNS counterpart, Schwann cells, are also considered glial cells. This sheath insulates the axon and increases the speed of transmission, analogous to the coating on electrical wires. Microglia are considered to be “immune system-like”; removing viruses, fungi, and other wastes that are present. Astrocytes, however, are considered to be the most prominent. Their functions span throughout the brain, including, but not limited to: the synchronization of axonal transmission via G-protein-coupled receptors, blood flow regulation via the dilation of blood vessels, and the performance of reactive gliosis in conjunction with microglia. Both astrocytes and oligodendrocytes develop from neuroepithelial cells. Other types of glial cells include Radial glia, which direct immature neuron migration during development.

The discovery of glial cells in the mid-19th century opened numerous doors in neuroscience research; nevertheless, many scientists have sustained a highly neuron-specific perspective all along. Neurons do play the major role in regulating brain function, but glial cells were always thought to only serve and protect their omnipotent counterparts. “Glia number equally or even more than neurons in the brain, so how could we forget such a big population of cells?” Guoping Feng asked.

Human brain consists of billions of cells interconnected together, with each performing its separate functions. It consists of two explicit categories of nerves: neurons and glia cells. Neuron is a single nerve cell in the entire nervous system; which is electrically excitable cell that carries information after being processed via chemical or electrical signals. One of its key characteristics is that it does not undergo cell division. In addition, it maintains a voltage gradient for all the neurons across its membranes. Glia cells, on the other hand, its functionality is to maintain homeostasis.

Camillo Golgi came up with the idea of silver staining, which uses silver chromate solution on brain tissue. Through this staining process it showed more details about the neuron than the Nissl stain could, like how the neuron had two distinct parts. Using Golgi’s method Santiago Ramon y Cajal was able to discover that the neuron was in fact the cellular

The eventual correlation between serum levels of targeted sphingolipids and the microstructural characteristics of the brain white matter, assessed by DTI-NMR and, finally,

Gangliosidosis is defined as monosialic gangliosides found in the outer edge of plasma membranes and intracellular membranes. Gangliosides are involved in the development, differentiation, and function of the nervous system (Ohmi et al, 2011). The lack of gangliosides can result in defects in nervous tissues and neurodegeneration. The two major types of gangliosides are GM1 and GM2. These are the focus in the studies presented.

Although, favorable biological functions of protein aggregates have been revealed in microorganisms, the degenerative nature of human amyloids in brain remains challenging since decades. It has been shown that the cell membrane plays a crucial role in modulating the A aggregation and kinetics and redirect them to intermediate states. Studied have shown that the association of A with cell membrane modulates the oligomeric nucleus that form morphologically distinct neurotoxic A species. The discriminated concentration dependent fibrillation reveled from in vivo and in vitro studies proposed the critical role of membrane that elevates the local A concentration. Recent studies have further shown the key phospholipids such as gangliosides (GM), sphingomyelin (SM) and cholesterol as the modulators of A oligomerization. The gangliosides are abundant in neuron cells and brain cholesterol levels are seen to increase through the AD progression. Moreover, the AD associated sphingomyelin metabolism dysfunction has been studied and its prevention for the treatment is proposed. Although, the exact function of GM/SM lipids in modulating the local A deposition and aggregation remains controversial, a recent study proposed the induction and inhibitory activity of SM and GM, respectively. However, advanced attempts to design and generate membrane modulating A aggregation with mechanistic approach remains unclear. In addition,

I have elected to pursue research in the field of neuroscience because I relish the approach of logical thinking to satisfy the curiosity of knowing things about me and the world around me. Neuroscience is a fascinating area with a limitless possibility of understanding and uncovering to resolve so many unanswered and unimagined questions. Although, in recent years, a large number of breakthroughs research have been done in the area of neuroscience, still, there is a lot more to discover and untangle in this area. Such an enormous amount of research work in this area has led open to the advancement in the diagnosis and therapeutic approaches to several neurological disorders and cancer such as glioma. Therefore, I decided