Immunology — not just supporting actors

Non-classical monocytes were long thought to play a purely surveillance role in the immune system. With the aid of a novel marker (PD-L1), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich researchers have now shown that they are directly involved in the regulation of immune response. Monocytes comprise a functionally specific group of white blood cells and are known…

Details

Structural development of the brain

IMAGE: When Ncad expression and adhesiveness were reduced in R7, which is usually situated at the central core region of the column, R7 terminals were redirected to the peripheral region of… view more  Credit: Kanazawa University The human brain consists of neurons arranged into microscopic columns. The cortex, which is the seat of most cerebral functions…

Details

Mystery of immunosuppressive drug’s biosynthesis finally unlocked

Mycophenolic acid (MPA), discovered in 1893, was the first natural antibiotic to be isolated and crystallized in human history. Today, this fungal metabolite has been developed into multiple first-line immunosuppressive drugs to control immunologic rejection during organ transplantation and treat various autoimmune diseases. However, the biogenesis of such an old and important molecule was an…

Details

Discovery of the cell fate switch from neurons to astrocytes in the developing brain

IMAGE: In the process of fetal brain development, neural stem cells generate both neurons and astrocytes. Neurons are formed first (left) and astrocytes later (right). The present study has revealed the… view more  Background Neurons1 and astrocytes2 are prominent cell types in the cerebral cortex. Neurons are the primary information processing cells in the brain, whereas…

Details

The pressure difference and vortex flow of blood in the heart chambers may signal heart dysfunction

IMAGE: Graphs of the vorticity during the cardiac cycle in a dog under various conditions. view more  Credit: FIGURE ADAPTED FROM Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 316: H882-H888, 2019. Copyright © 2019 the American Physiological Society Japanese scientists at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology (TUAT), Teikyo University of Science, and Juntendo University have found…

Details