Scientists have engineered a nanowire platform that mimics brain tissue to study astrocytes, the star-shaped cells critical for brain health, for the first time in their natural state. Astrocytes are ...

Astrocytes are star shaped cells that make up around 35% of human brain cells. They were once thought of as cells that simply supported neurons in the central nervous system (CNS). But in recent years ...

Silent cells deep in your spinal cord may hold a surprising key to healing after devastating injuries and brain disease. A ...

Bipolar disorder, also known as "manic-depressive illness," a brain disorder known to have afflicted the famous painter Vincent van Gogh, is characterized by recurrent episodes of mania and depression ...

Scientists suspect astrocytes’ signature star shape is connected to their various key functions. But those shapes collapse as soon as scientists attempt to study them on typical glass trays under ...

Scientists suspect astrocytes’ signature star shape is connected to their various key functions. But those shapes collapse as soon as scientists attempt to study them on typical glass trays under ...

Resting brain stem cells hardly differ from normal astrocytes, which support the nerve cells in the brain. How can almost identical cells perform such different functions? The key lies in the ...

A collaborative French–Swiss study reveals a previously unknown role for astrocytes in the brain's information processing. Published in the journal Cell, the research shows that these glial cells are ...

We will begin by highlighting a subset of the many cellular functions of astrocytes, focusing specifically on those functions that have the most relevance to neurodegeneration (Figure 1). Other ...

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have upended decades-old dogma of how connections between brain cells are rearranged during states of heightened vigilance or ...

A new machine learning model shows that star-shaped brain cells may be responsible for the brain's memory capacity, and someday, it could inspire advances in AI and Alzheimer's research. When you ...