Science News about Basic Research

How Strep Triggers Obsessive Compulsive Disorder – New Clues

Science Update • October 11, 2006

A likely mechanism by which a bacterial infection triggers obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) in some children has been demonstrated by NIMH scientists and collaborators at California State University and the University of Oklahoma.

Shy Temperament: More than Just Fearful

Science Update • August 07, 2006

Compared to others, children with extremely shy temperament have heightened brain activity in response to any prominent event, whether the event is positive or negative, a new imaging study suggests.

Receptor Knockout Yields an Adventurous Mouse

Press Release • August 01, 2006

Mice altered to lack a particular type of receptor in the brain’s executive hub are more prone to go where normal mice fear to tread, NIMH funded scientists have discovered.

Males with Autism Have Fewer Cells in Brain’s Emotional Memory Hub

Science Update • July 26, 2006

Males with autism have fewer cells in a part of the brain that has a key role in emotion and memory, according to NIMH-funded researchers at the University of California, Davis.

New Tool Can Boost or Block the Body’s Protective Inner Barriers

Press Release • July 13, 2006

A team of experts funded by NIH has developed a chemical tool that allows scientists to manipulate control of the passage of substances through the barriers between blood and the tissues of every organ — from the brain, lungs, and heart to the organs of the immune system.

Studies ID Molecular Accomplices of Suspect Schizophrenia Genes

Science Update • May 02, 2006

NIMH-funded researchers have discovered how certain genes work at the molecular level to increase the risk of schizophrenia.

Properly Timed Light, Melatonin Lift Winter Depression by Syncing Rhythms

Science Update • May 01, 2006

Most Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) symptoms stem from daily body rhythms that have gone out-of-sync with the sun, a NIMH-funded study has found.

Cortex Matures Faster in Youth with Highest IQ

Press Release • March 29, 2006

Youth with superior IQ are distinguished by how fast the thinking part of their brains thickens and thins as they grow up, researchers at NIMH have discovered.

Aggression-Related Gene Weakens Brain’s Impulse Control Circuits

Press Release • March 20, 2006

A version of a gene previously linked to impulsive violence appears to weaken brain circuits that regulate impulses, emotional memory and thinking in humans, researchers at NIMH have found.

Gene Influences Antidepressant Response

Press Release • March 15, 2006

Whether depressed patients will respond to an antidepressant depends, in part, on which version of a gene they inherit, a study led by scientists at NIH has discovered. Having two copies of one version of a gene that codes for a component of the brain’s mood―regulating system increased the odds of a favorable response to an antidepressant by up to 18 percent, compared to having two copies of the other, more common version.

Depression Model Leaves Mice with Molecular Scar

Press Release • February 27, 2006

In addition to triggering a depression-like social withdrawal syndrome, repeated defeat by dominant animals leaves a mouse with an enduring “molecular scar” in its brain that could help to explain why depression is so difficult to cure, suggest researchers funded by NIMH.

Lithium Blocks Enzyme To Help Cells’ Clocks Keep On Tickin’

Science Update • February 17, 2006

NIMH-funded researchers have discovered how lithium likely fixes body clocks gone awry, stabilizing sleep-wake cycles and other daily rhythms disturbed along with mood in bipolar disorder.

Mice Lacking Social Memory Molecule Take Bullying in Stride

Press Release • February 09, 2006

The social avoidance that normally develops when a mouse repeatedly experiences defeat by a dominant animal disappears when it lacks a gene for a memory molecule in a brain circuit for social learning, scientists funded by the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) have discovered.

Nobelist Discovers Antidepressant Protein in Mouse Brain

Press Release • January 06, 2006

A protein that seems to be pivotal in lifting depression has been discovered by a Nobel Laureate researcher funded by NIMH.

Trust-Building Hormone Short-Circuits Fear In Humans

Press Release • December 07, 2005

A brain chemical recently found to boost trust appears to work by reducing activity and weakening connections in fear-processing circuitry, a brain imaging study at the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has discovered.

Gene Knockout Scores a Fearless Mouse

Press Release • November 22, 2005

Knocking out a gene in the brain's fear hub creates mice unperturbed by situations that would normally trigger instinctive or learned fear responses, researchers funded, in part, by the National Institutes of Health have discovered.

Teens with Deletion Syndrome Confirm Gene’s Role in Psychosis

Press Release • October 23, 2005

A study in youth who are missing part of a chromosome is further implicating a suspect gene in schizophrenia.

NIH Joined by Advocacy Groups to Fund Research on Autism Susceptibility Genes

Press Release • October 18, 2005

Five institutes at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and three private autism organizations have formed a consortium to pursue their common goal of understanding a devastating disorder.

Scientists Uncover New Clues About Brain Function in Human Behavior

Press Release • July 10, 2005

Researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), part of the National Institutes of Health, have discovered a genetically controlled brain mechanism responsible for social behavior in humans — one of the most important but least understood aspects of human nature.

NIH “Roadmap” Grants Will Establish Nine Screening Centers in Seven States

Press Release • June 15, 2005

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) today announced it is awarding $88.9 million in grants to nine institutions over three years to establish a collaborative research network that will use high-tech screening methods to identify small molecules that can be used as research tools.

Rodent Social Behavior Encoded in Junk DNA

Press Release • June 09, 2005

A discovery that may someday help to explain human social behavior and disorders such as autism has been made in a species of pudgy rodents by researchers funded, in part, by the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and National Center for Research Resources (NCRR).

NIMH Research Showcased at APA Meeting

Press Release • May 18, 2005

At the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) annual meeting in Atlanta next week, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) will showcase advances in translating new scientific knowledge into improved treatments for mental disorders.

Depression Gene May Weaken Mood-Regulating Circuit

Press Release • May 09, 2005

A brain scan study suggests that a suspect gene may increase susceptibility to anxiety and depression by weakening a circuit for processing negative emotion.

Brain Scans Reveal How Gene May Boost Schizophrenia Risk

Press Release • April 21, 2005

Clues about how a suspect version of a gene may slightly increase risk for schizophrenia are emerging from a brain imaging study by the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

Brain Awareness Week Teaches Kids How Their Brains Work

Science Update • March 07, 2005

The fifth annual Brain Awareness Week (BAW), a science and health education fair to teach 5th–8th grade students about the brain, will take place March 14–18, 2005 at the National Museum of Health and Medicine at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

Rat Brain’s Executive Hub Quells Alarm Center if Stress is Controllable

Press Release • February 11, 2005

Treatments for mood and anxiety disorders are thought to work, in part, by helping patients control the stresses in their lives.

Birds Brainier Than Previously Thought

Press Release • February 03, 2005

The brains of birds appear to be more similar to those of mammals than previously thought.

New Neurons Born in Adult Rat Cortex

Press Release • February 02, 2005

Recent evidence suggesting that antidepressants may act by triggering the birth of new neurons in the adult hippocampus,* the brain's memory hub, has heightened interest in such adult neurogenesis and raised the question: Could new neurons also be sprouting up in the parts of the adult brain involved in the thinking and mood disturbances of depression and anxiety?

Nobel Laureate Axelrod, Neuroscience Pioneer

Press Release • December 30, 2004

Nobel Laureate Julius Axelrod, Ph.D., an NIMH researcher since 1955, died in his sleep early Wednesday morning, December 29, 2004.

International Coalition to Fund Autism Genetics Research

Press Release • December 29, 2004

An international public/private partnership of government health agencies and private advocacy organizations has committed more than $21 million for research to identify the genes associated with autism spectrum disorders, a range of developmental disorders that impair communication and other mental abilities.