As a neuromodulator, norepinephrine is a powerful force in the brain. We all know it orchestrates rapid changes in behavior such as the fight-or-flight response. Fewer people know that astrocytes ...

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 ...

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 ...

Synaptic plasticity — the brain’s ability to modify the connections between neurons to support learning — is one of the neural functions profoundly altered in Huntington’s disease, with a direct ...

Astrocytes are found throughout the brain. Each astrocyte is in contact with several neurons and more than 100'000 synapses. A new study shows that, at the microscopic level, dozens of synapses from ...