Brain research Brain disorders, in particular neurodegenerative diseases and mental illnesses are among the most prevalent and debilitating diseases. Because they are chronic, quality of life and socio-economic prospects are dramatically impaired. Prevalent brain disorders are typically caused by the interplay of environmental factors and genetic variation in multiple genes, which is currently being mapped [...]
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JoVE video paper
JoVE, the Journal of Visualized Experiments gives the opportunity to share a method with the science community by actually showing how to prepare and perform an experiment. We used the opportunity to create a video-methods paper of the well-established calcium imaging technique in immature brain slices.
The increasing prevalence for neurodegenerative disease in our aging population poses a growing problem for healthcare.
Many brain disorders are to be considered 'synaptic diseases" or 'synaptopathies' and cellular function of synapses.
The synapse is a specialized structure between two neurons at which basal neuronal communication takes place.
In neuropsychiatric disorders associated with reduced cognitive abilities, such as age-related cognitive decline, but also mental retardation, the ability of synapses to alter their strength is strongly affected.
The etiology of many disorders including age-related cognitive decline and neurodegenerative disorders such as dementia and Parkinson’s disease is still poorly understood.