ASIC

Study sheds light on brain's fear processing center

Breathing carbon dioxide can trigger panic attacks, but the biological reason for this effect has not been understood. A new study by University of Iowa researchers shows that carbon dioxide increases brain acidity, which in turn activates a brain protein that plays an important role in fear and anxiety behavior.

UAB researchers draft 3-D protein map to aid stroke, cancer research

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- A new three-dimensional computer protein map is helping researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) unravel the biological pathways that control brain-cell death after a stroke.

New way to protect brain from stroke damage

Researchers have uncovered a new culprit behind the brain injury suffered by stroke victims. Their new study links brain cell damage to a rise in brain acidity following the oxygen depletion, or ischemia, characteristic of stroke. The results may lead to new therapies designed to avert the often debilitating effects of stroke, for which successful treatments are currently lacking. A series of experiments in laboratory dishes and in animals implicates a recently described class of membrane ion channels, called acid-sensing ion channels (ASICs), to the influx of calcium in nerve cells starved of oxygen and subjected to acidic conditions. That calcium overload, long attributed to another group of cellular components, is essential for stroke injury as it sets off a cascade of events toxic to cells.

Study sheds light on brain's fear processing center

UAB researchers draft 3-D protein map to aid stroke, cancer research

New way to protect brain from stroke damage

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