The language we learn growing up seems to leave a lasting, biological imprint on our brains. German and Arabic native speakers have different connection strengths in specific parts of the brain’s language circuit, researchers report. The new study, based on nearly 100 brain scans, is one of the first in which scientists have identified these kinds of structural wiring differences in a large group of monolingual adults. Our brains process the key aspects of our native language in a constellation of brian regions connected by white matter. This tissue routes long, cablelike nerve cells from one part of the brain to another and speeds up communication between them. Wiring brain regions together this way is part of how we learn: The more often we use a connection, the more robust it becomes. Swipe left to compare the brain scans of German speakers (left) with Arabic speakers (right). The brains of German native speakers had stronger white matter networks (lines) within the left hemisphere, while the brains of Arabic native speakers had denser networks bridging the two hemispheres. Each sphere represents a different part of the language circuit, with its size showing how central it is. (🎨, first image: mussbila/iStock/Getty Images Plus 🎨, second image: X. Wei et al/NeuroImage 2023) #science #language #brain #neuroscience #brainscience #braindevelopment #languagelearning #notanaprilfoolsjoke

A rare genetic mutation, never seen before, protected a man with an inherited form of Alzheimer’s from developing the disease for decades. He is the second person found to have such protection, following a report in 2019 of a woman with a different mutation. Both mutations may have staved off the disease for years by acting in similar ways in the brain, an insight that could lead to new treatments for all forms of Alzheimer’s, researchers report. Both the man and woman were members of a Colombian family who have a mutation in the PSEN1 gene that causes the rare inherited variety of Alzheimer’s. People with “familial” Alzheimer’s usually start showing signs in their 40s. The woman stayed sharp into her 70s, while the man described in the new study was still mentally healthy at 67. “That means they were protected, because they should have gotten the disease 30 years earlier, and they didn’t,” says neurologist Diego Sepulveda-Falla. Amyloid plaques, thought by many researchers to be deeply involved in Alzheimer’s, were abundant in both patients’ brains. But the woman had low levels of another possible culprit, clusters of proteins called tau tangles (orange clumps in this illustration). Surprisingly, the man “was severely affected by tau,” Sepulveda-Falla says. But some key regions had been spared from tau buildup. (🎨: Juan Gaertner/Science Photo Library/Getty Images Plus) #science #alzheimers #neuroscience #disease #dementia #genetic #mutation

Psychedelics go beneath the cell surface to unleash their potentially therapeutic effects. These drugs are showing promise in clinical trials as treatments for mental health disorders. Now, scientists might know why. The substances can get inside nerve cells in the cortex — the brain region important for consciousness — and tell the neurons to grow, researchers report. It was already known that substances like psilocin, which comes from magic mushrooms, and LSD repair neurons by promoting the growth of nerve cell branches that receive information, called dendrites. But how they trigger cell growth was a mystery. The new research shows that access to a protein called the 5-HT2A receptor (highlighted with colors in this microscopic image) inside the cells may be the key to achieve therapeutic effects. (📸: David Olson/UC Davis) #science #neuron #nervecell #brain #neuroscience #psychedelic #lsd #magicmushroom #cortex #cell #microscopic world

Scientists can see chronic pain in the brain with new clarity. Over months, electrodes implanted in the brains of four people picked up specific signs of their persistent pain. Chronic pain is incredibly common, but also incredibly complex and thus difficult to treat. Stimulating the brian with electricity is one common treatment approach. In this study, implanted electrodes (red dots in the images above) in the orbitofrontal cortex (shown in yellow) and anterior cingulate cortex (shown in blue) monitored brain signals of people with chronic pain. Using sophisticated machine learning approaches, researchers then linked each person’s pain ratings to their brain activity patterns, ultimately landing on a signature of each person’s chronic pain. In many ways, the patterns were unique to each person, but there was overlap: Brain activity in the OFC, an area at the front of the brain just behind the eyes, tracked with people’s chronic pain levels. Brain activity in the OFC could represent a solid biomarker of chronic pain, a signal that could both help doctors track treatment responses and serve as new targets for treatment, says neuroscientist Chelsea Kaplan. (📸: P. Shirvalkar) #science #neuroscience #chronicpain #medicine #electrode #brain #brainimplant

Find out how brain implants are treating depression — and changing lives — in a six-part series that arrives weekly starting whenever you sign up. Senior neuroscience writer Laura Sanders will introduce you to Jon Nelson and other people who are being treated with deep brain stimulation for severe depression. She’ll also share the history of the experimental treatment, the ups and downs, and the state of the science today. (🎨: E. Otwell) #science #neuroscience #brain #brainimplant #depression

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