Drugs to Grow Your Brain - Compounds that trigger the growth of new brain cells might help treat depression.

Drugs that encourage the growth of new neurons in the brain are now headed for clinical trials. The drugs, which have already shown success in alleviating symptoms of depression and boosting memory in animal models, are being developed by BrainCells, a San Diego-based start-up that screens drugs for their brain-growing power. The company hopes the compounds will provide an alternative to existing antidepressants and says they may also prove effective in treating cognitive disorders, such as Alzheimer's.

"The fact that you might be able to take small molecules to stimulate specific cells to regenerate in the brain is paradigm-shifting," says Christopher Eckman, a neuroscientist at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL. "[This approach] takes advantage of the body's innate ability to correct itself when given appropriate cues." Eckman studies compounds that boost brain cell growth in models of neurodegenerative disease and is not involved with BrainCells.

READ MORE @ TECHNOLOGY REVIEW

No sleep 'renders brain erratic'

Scientists have shown relying on the sleep deprived-brain to perform well is potentially fraught with danger.

They found that even after sleep deprivation, people have periods of near normal brain function in which they can finish tasks quickly.

However, this is mixed with periods of slow response and severe drops in visual processing and attention.

The study, by Duke University and the National University of Singapore, appears in the Journal of Neuroscience.

The researchers said the findings had implications for people who have to struggle through night work, from long distance lorry drivers to on-call doctors.

Lead researcher Professor Michael Chee said: "The periods of apparently normal functioning could give a false sense of competency and security when, in fact, the brain's inconsistency could have dire consequences.

READ MORE @ BBC

Antidepressant linked to worsening white matter in elderly

The results of a study employing serial cranial MRI suggest that elderly adults who use tricyclic antidepressants may be at increased risk for progression of white matter lesions, which have been linked with late-life depression by previous studies.

Still, the progression of these lesions may be the indication for use, or certain side effects, such as hypotension, may be directly responsible.

Late-life depression has been tied to white matter lesions on MRI. The contribution of the various antidepressant agents to this finding has been unclear. Prior research has suggested that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) inhibit platelet aggregation, which might be expected to slow progression of these lesions.

Dr. David C. Steffens, from Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina and associates addressed this topic by comparing the initial and five-year follow-up MRI scans in 1829 adults, 65 years or older, who were not using antidepressants at baseline.

The use of an antidepressant from any class during the study period hastened the progression of white matter disease, according to the report in the March issue of Stroke.

READ MORE @ MEDICEXCHANGE

More Keys To Maintain Your Brain

Here I continue with a subject I can't resist and can certainly use - a series of tips on how to maintain and enhance brainpower. (See earlier column from Dec. 13.) In introducing them, the authors of the book where I found them, You: Staying Young: The Owner's Manual for Extending Your Warranty, Dr. Michael F. Roizen, of the Cleveland Clinic, and Dr. Mehmet Oz, of Columbia University, have some wise words: "There are many ways to keep your brain operating at maximum efficiency, maximum power, and maximum quality."

o get you into the right mood and eliminate any room for excuses, I'll start with a few of the easiest ones.

Feed On Brain Food. Yes, there is such a thing. Serve up one of our best friends, those omega-3 fatty acids found in greatest abundance in the fat of such fish as salmon, mahi-mahi, tuna and herring. These omega-3s have multiple beneficial effects: (1) They improve the function of your message-sending neurotransmitters (chemicals that carry messages back and forth between nerve cells), (2) they slow cognitive decline in people who are at risk, and (3) keep arteries clear, which means they also keep an adequate supply of blood flowing to the brain.

Drs. Roizen and Oz, the authors, suggest you aim for 13 ounces of fish a week, or if you prefer take two grams of metabolically distilled fish oil a day or DHA (a form of omega-3) from algae or an ounce of walnuts every day.

READ MORE @ THE BULLETIN

Biocapture Surfaces Produced For Study Of Brain Chemistry

A research team at Penn State has developed a novel method for attaching small molecules, such as neurotransmitters, to surfaces, which then are used to capture large biomolecules. By varying the identity and spacing of the tethered molecules, researchers can make the technique applicable to a wide range of bait molecules including drugs, chemical warfare agents, and environmental pollutants. Ultimately, the researchers also hope to identify synthetic biomolecules that recognize neurotransmitters so that they can fabricate extremely small biosensors to study neurotransmission in the living brain.

In the brain, dozens of different small signaling molecules interact with thousands of large receptive proteins as part of the fundamental communication process between nerve cells. This cacophony of specific interactions is highly dependent on nanoscale molecular structure. One key to advancing our understanding of how the brain works is to identify the nature of the association between neurotransmitters and their binding partners.

READ MORE @ SCIENCE DAILY

ADHD Brains Might Need More Growing Time

Scientists are divided on what causes attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, which affects 3 to 5 percent of school-age children. Some say it's a developmental delay, while others argue that the brains of children with ADHD are abnormal from the start. One puzzle: Some, but not all, kids seem to "grow out" of the disorder, which can cause restlessness, inattention, and difficulty focusing. An intriguing new finding by researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health, reported in today's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that for about half of kids with ADHD, the troubling symptoms they experience in childhood could be a result simply of slower—but otherwise normal—maturation of the brain.

What should harried parents make of the findings? U.S. News asked Judith Rapoport, a coauthor of the study and chief of the child psychology branch at the National Institute of Mental Health. She has pioneered efforts to study the relationship between brain structure and mental disorders.

Rapoport cautions that the research is in the early stages. The delays, which put areas of the brain used in higher order decision making behind schedule by an average of three years, were most evident in areas at the front of the brain's outer covering, or cortex, that house the ability to control thinking, attention, and planning. In some of the children and teens with ADHD, the brain regions reached peak thickness when the children averaged 10.5 years old, compared with 7.5 in children without ADHD.

READ MORE @ US NEWS & WORLD REPORT

Mental Disorders Are Disorders Of The Brain

Depression, anxiety disorders such as panic disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorders, alcohol and drug dependence, dementia and Parkinson's disease are just a few examples of "disorders of the brain."

The size, the burden and cost of brain disorders in the EU is immense, and has so far been underestimated," as Prof. Dr. Hans Ulrich Wittchen emphasized at the Official Press Conference to the 20th ECNP Congress for Neuropsychopharmacology in Vienna (October 13-17, 2007).

Increasing Lifetime Risk -- Unmet Needs

Mental disorders such as anxiety and depressive disorders are disorders of the brain and involve complex patterns of disturbances of cognition (such as perception, attention, memory), affect and emotion (such as depressed mood, panic), somatic functioning (e.g. appetite, heart rate variability) and behaviour. These patterns and disturbances are all associated with disturbances in the transmitter systems of the brain and the central nervous system. What is special about most mental disorders is that they predominantly manifest early in life, before the age of 20. They are also associated across the life span with a high risk of developing complications and other -- so called comorbid -- disorders.

READ MORE @ SCIENCE DAILY