Science News about Basic Research

New Social Neuroscience Grants to Help Unravel Autism, Anxiety Disorders

Science Update • October 10, 2007

How genes and the environment shape the brain circuitry underlying social behavior is among the questions being addressed by three newly NIMH-funded studies.

Bipolar Disorder Phenome Database May Aid Search for Related Genes

Science Update • October 02, 2007

Early findings from the recently launched Bipolar Disorder Phenome Database were published in the August 2007 issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry.

Gene Triggers Obsessive Compulsive Disorder-Like Syndrome in Mice

Press Release • August 22, 2007

Using genetic engineering, researchers have created an obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) - like set of behaviors in mice and reversed them with antidepressants and genetic targeting of a key brain circuit. The study, by National Institutes of Health (NIH) -funded researchers, suggests new strategies for treating the disorder.

New Studies Search for Clues to Mental Illness in Gatekeepers of Gene Expression

Science Update • August 10, 2007

What goes awry in the brain to cause mental illness may ultimately be traced to glitches in genes - but not necessarily the parts of genes commonly suspected.

New Technique Pinpoints Crossroads of Depression in Rat Brain

Science Update • August 02, 2007

NIMH-funded scientists have developed a new high-speed technique for imaging brain activity and used it to pinpoint a circuit signal in rats that may be at the crossroads of depression — a possible "final common pathway" where different causes of, and treatments for, the disorder appear to converge.

Study Offers Glimpse of Molecules That Keep Memories Alive

Science Update • July 02, 2007

Working memory is a kind of temporary-storage system in the brain. Unlike long-term memory, it stores disposable information we must keep in mind only transiently, for tasks at hand. But how?

Genetic Roots of Bipolar Disorder Revealed by First Genome-Wide Study of Illness

Press Release • May 08, 2007

The likelihood of developing bipolar disorder depends in part on the combined, small effects of variations in many different genes in the brain, none of which is powerful enough to cause the disease by itself, a new study shows.

Cell Networking Keeps Brain’s Master Clock Ticking

Science Update • May 04, 2007

Each day, a master clock in the brain synchronizes the timing of lesser clocks in cells throughout the body to the rising and setting of the sun, regulating such daily rhythms as sleep, body temperature, eating, and activity. Scientists funded in part by the National Institute of Mental Health have now discovered that the secret to this master clock’s robust time-keeping ability lies in the unique way its cells work together.

Cortex Area Thinner in Youth with Alzheimer’s-Related Gene

Press Release • April 24, 2007

A part of the brain first affected by Alzheimer’s disease is thinner in youth with a risk gene for the disorder, a brain imaging study by researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has found.

Gene Knockout Unleashes Manic Mouse

Science Update • April 05, 2007

Mice engineered to lack a specific gene showed behaviors similar to human mania in a study funded in part by NIMH; they were hyperactive, slept less, appeared less depressed and anxious, and craved sugar, cocaine and pleasure stimulation.

Scientists Switch Neurons On and Off Using Light

Science Update • April 05, 2007

Researchers have invented a genetically-engineered way to turn the electrical impulses of brain cells on and off with pulses of blue and yellow light — in synch with the split-second pace of real time neuronal activity.

Adolescent Brains Show Lower Activity in Areas That Control Risky Choices

Science Update • March 15, 2007

A new NIMH study could help explain why adolescents are so prone to make risky choices. When contemplating risky decisions, they show less activity in regions of the brain that regulate processes involved in decision-making, compared with adults.

Tiny, Spontaneous Gene Mutations May Boost Autism Risk

Press Release • March 15, 2007

Tiny gene mutations, each individually rare, pose more risk for autism than had been previously thought, suggests a study funded in part by the National Institute of Mental Health, a component of the National Institutes of Health.

Virtual-Reality Video Game Helps Link Depression to Specific Brain Area

Science Update • March 01, 2007

Scientists are using a virtual-reality, three-dimensional video game that challenges spatial memory as a new tool for assessing the link between depression and the hippocampus, the brain’s memory hub.

Largest-Ever Search for Autism Genes Reveals New Clues

Press Release • February 18, 2007

The largest search for autism genes to date, funded in part by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has implicated components of the brain’s glutamate chemical messenger system and a previously overlooked site on chromosome 11.

Common Gene Version Optimizes Thinking — but With a Possible Downside

Press Release • February 09, 2007

Most people inherit a version of a gene that optimizes their brain’s thinking circuitry, yet also appears to increase risk for schizophrenia, a severe mental illness marked by impaired thinking, scientists at the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) have discovered.

Autism Research Efforts Highlighted in Biological Psychiatry Special Issue

Science Update • February 06, 2007

The February 15, 2007 special issue of Biological Psychiatry is dedicated to recent advances in autism research, including many studies funded by the Institute.

Brain’s Reward Circuit Activity Ebbs and Flows with a Woman’s Hormonal Cycle

Press Release • February 02, 2007

Fluctuations in sex hormone levels during women’s menstrual cycles affect the responsiveness of their brains’ reward circuitry, an imaging study at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has revealed.

New Tests May Help Researchers Detect Genetic Basis For Autism

Science Update • January 30, 2007

Researchers have developed a set of behavioral tests in mice that mimic the core features of autism and may prove useful in detecting a genetic basis for the deficits in social interactions and rigid thinking seen in the disorder.

Clues to Making and Breaking Memories Included in List of Year’s Top Science

Science Update • January 30, 2007

NIMH-funded researchers were cited in Science Magazine’s December 2006 “Breakthrough of the Year” special issue.

Gene Variant Linked to Schizophrenia

Science Update • January 23, 2007

A gene implicated in schizophrenia in adults has now also been linked to schizophrenia in children for the first time, strengthening evidence that the gene plays a role in the disease.

Different Families, Different Characteristics — Different Kinds of Bipolar Disorder?

Science Update • January 03, 2007

People with bipolar disorder (BPD) tend to share similarities in certain characteristics with other members of their families, NIMH-funded researchers have shown.

Experience Sculpts Brain Circuitry to Build Resiliency to Stress

Press Release • December 21, 2006

It’s long been known that experiencing control over a stressor immunizes a rat from developing a depression-like syndrome when it later encounters stressors that it can’t control.

Receptor Helps Neurons Grow in Right Direction

Science Update • December 12, 2006

Researchers have discovered a receptor for a key protein that helps guide certain nerve cells into the correct position as the nervous system develops — a vital part of a process that enables the brain to receive sensory input from the environment and to send messages to the rest of the body via the spinal cord.

Broad HIV Screening Valuable Even in Communities with Low Infection Rates

Science Update • December 05, 2006

An HIV/AIDS screening program may be cost-effective even in communities where the infection rate and the prevalence of the disease are very low and among populations at low risk for HIV infection, according to an NIMH-funded study published December 5, 2006, in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Brain’s Fear Center Likely Shrinks in Autism’s Most Severely Socially Impaired

Press Release • December 04, 2006

The brain’s fear hub likely becomes abnormally small in the most severely socially impaired males with autism spectrum disorders, researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and National Institute on Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) have discovered.

More Direct Way to Map Brain Activity Deemed Feasible

Science Update • October 30, 2006

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can be used to directly detect the electrical activity emitted by neurons, NIMH scientists and colleagues have demonstrated.

New Research Helps to Improve Understanding of Bipolar Disorder in Youth

Science Update • October 24, 2006

Bipolar disorder may be hard to identify in children and adolescents for several reasons, including a lack of age-appropriate diagnostic guidelines and symptoms different than those commonly seen in adults with the disorder.

Gene Linked to Autism in Families with More Than One Affected Child

Press Release • October 17, 2006

A version of a gene has been linked to autism in families that have more than one child with the disorder. Inheriting two copies of this version more than doubled a child’s risk of developing an autism spectrum disorder, scientists supported by NIMH and NICHD have discovered.

Gene Therapy May One Day Prevent AIDS–Related Brain–Cell Death

Science Update • October 11, 2006

Scientists have shown that gene therapy has potential for treating brain pathology triggered by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes AIDS.