In the last five years, neuronal pentraxins have emerged as potential markers of synaptic loss. In the case of NPTX2, researchers may now be able to explain why. In the March 29 Science Translational ...

A landmark study, based on genetic analysis of nearly 65,000 people, has revealed that a person's risk of schizophrenia is increased if they inherit specific variants in a gene related to "synaptic ...

Synaptic pruning is the process in which the brain removes neurons and synapses that it does not need. This usually takes place when a person is 2–10 years old. The brain contains millions of neurons ...

Researchers have shown in mice how immune cells in the brain target and remove unused connections between brain cells during normal development. This research, supported by the National Institutes of ...

For better or worse, complement proteins tag synapses for elimination by microglia. A paper published July 13 in Nature Neuroscience identifies a neuronal protein that keeps this process in check.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental condition in which affected individuals experience difficulties in social communication and exhibit restricted, repetitive patterns of ...

A multidisciplinary team of scientists has discovered the mechanism that controls synaptic pruning of new neurons in the adult brain. The team discovered that microglial cells control the number of ...

Researchers from Kyushu University discovered a previously unrecognized synaptic "hotspot" that forms during adolescence, challenging the long-held view that adolescent brain development was dominated ...

Excessive activity of an immune system gene previously linked to schizophrenia reproduces neural and behavioral aspects of the disease in mice, according to a new study publishing on January 14 in the ...