A new study reveals how young synapses gradually mature to send chemical signals correctly — a process that can take days and depends on neural activity.

Neuroscientists at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory have found that a protein acts like a volume dial for the release of neurotransmitters, the chemicals that neurons release across ...

In brain cells, neurotransmitters are carried inside “cellular vehicles”. Scientists elucidate the mechanisms behind the motion of these vehicles in mammalian synapses. In brain cells, ...

Whether we are writing an email, rushing for a bus, or humming a tune, every thought, feeling, and action relies on ...

How do we think, feel, remember, or move? These processes involve synaptic transmission, in which chemical signals are transmitted between nerve cells using molecular containers called vesicles. Now, ...

Biomimetic stimulation of the retina with neurotransmitters, the natural agents of communication at chemical synapses, could be more effective than electrical stimulation for treating blindness from ...

Synapses, the connections between neurons, come in different flavors, depending on the chemical they use as transmitter. The type of synapses that use a signal transmitter called GABA stand out ...

As summarized in Science, the study describes a unified “kiss-shrink-run” mechanism of synaptic transmission. This model ...

The human brain contains nearly 86 billion neurons, constantly exchanging messages like an immense social media network, but neurons do not work alone – glial cells, neurotransmitters, receptors, and ...

Our modern world is loud. Just sitting in a car, or an airplane, or watching movie previews, we are bombarded with sound. Even when those noises aren’t damaging to the sensitive microphone that is our ...

Matthew Xu-Friedman receives funding from the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Deafness and Communication Disorders. A student who conducted some of the work described, Tenzin ...