First-in-humans discovery reveals brain chemicals working behind the scenes during decision-making

The idea that people make decisions based on social context is not a new one in neural economic games. But now, for the first time, researchers publishing in Nature Human Behavior show the impact of the social context may spring from the dynamic interactions of dopamine and serotonin. Researchers built carbon-fiber electrodes that were implanted in patients receiving Deep Brain Stimulation surgery. The method allows researchers to measure more than one neurotransmitter at a time, revealing a dance that has never been seen before

FAU, Israel Scientists ‘Team Up’ to Tackle Alzheimer’s-related Mood Disorders

Researchers from Florida Atlantic University, in collaboration with Tel Aviv University, have received a two-year, $379,177 grant from the National Institute on Aging, National Institutes for Health, on a collaborative project to study mood-disorders changes in Alzheimer’s disease.

Study Indicates Neurosurgical Procedure Used to Measure Dopamine and Serotonin Is Safe

Scientists at Wake Forest University School of Medicine have demonstrated that a neurosurgical procedure used to research and measure dopamine and serotonin in the human brain is safe.

Their findings are published online in PLOS One, a journal published by the Public Library of Science.

McMaster scientists pinpoint key trigger of Crohn’s disease

Researchers gleaned their results by analyzing blood and biopsy samples from two groups totalling 18 people with Crohn’s disease, comparing them to a matching number of people from two healthy control groups. A mouse model of IBD was also used. Khan said his study was the first demonstration of the interaction between serotonin, autophagy and gut microbiota in intestinal inflammation. The paper was published by Science Advances today. Sabah Haq, a PhD student who works with Khan, is first author.

Mount Sinai Neurobiologist Selected as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) has selected Ian Maze, PhD, Associate Professor of Neuroscience, and Pharmacological Sciences, at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, as an HHMI Investigator.

Scientists find neurochemicals have unexpectedly profound roles in the human brain

Dopamine and serotonin are at work at sub-second speeds to shape how people perceive the world and take action based on their perception. The discovery shows researchers can simultaneously measure the activity of both dopamine and serotonin in disorders ranging from depression to Parkinson’s disease.