Volume 7 Issue 9, September 2004

Glucocorticoids are important for neuronal function, but their release in conjunction with a brain injury can intensify neuronal death, causing more harm than good. A new study shows that delivery of genes that have been modified to alter glucocorticoid signaling can block the toxic effects of the hormone in vitro and in vivo, converting what was once a neuron's worst enemy into its best friend.

Boundary cap cells of the dorsal root ganglia were thought to be limited to a structural role regulating migration into or out of the neural tube. Now a study in this issue reports that they are progenitors of small-diameter nociceptive neurons.

A new study presents the first mouse model of hereditary cerebral hemorrhage with amyloidosis–Dutch type, a disease associated with amyloid deposits in the brain's vasculature, and gives insights into Aβ deposition that may be relevant to Alzheimer disease treatment.

Thousands of active synapses on the dendrites drastically increase membrane conductance. Williams now shows that local processing is unaffected by conductance changes in distant regions, highlighting how functionally independent dendritic regions interact.