News — Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics (DPAG)

Researchers discover novel form of adaptation in the auditory system

21 June 2022

DPAG’s auditory neuroscience researchers have found that the auditory system adapts to the changing acoustics of reverberant environments by temporally shifting the inhibitory tuning of cortical neurons to remove reverberation.

Map of nuclear and cytoplasmic pH recorded in neonatal cardiac cells incubated in various medium pH: 6.24, 6.49, 6.80. 6.98, 7.10 and 7.45. This is colour coded on a scale from 6.1 - 7.6 pH.

The effect of nuclear pH on cardiac gene expression

13 April 2022

Research led by Dr Alzbeta Hulikova and Professor Pawel Swietach has, for the first time, described the potential regulation of nuclear acid-base chemistry in neonatal and adult cardiomyocytes, and explained its relevance in the context of heart physiology and pathology.

A role of sleep in tinnitus identified for the first time

8 April 2022

Phantom percepts, such as subjective tinnitus, are driven by fundamental changes in spontaneous brain activity. Sleep is a natural example of major shifts in spontaneous brain activity and perceptual state, suggesting an interaction between sleep and tinnitus that has so far been little considered. In a new collaborative review article from DPAG’s auditory and sleep neuroscientists, tinnitus and sleep research is brought together for the first time, and, in conclusion, they propose a fundamental relationship between natural brain dynamics and the expression and pathogenesis of tinnitus.

An unexpected role for the cell’s largest membrane network

7 April 2022

A new Klemm Lab-led paper has uncovered a new mechanism involving the endoplasmic reticulum that is critical to the organisation and position of the microtubule (MT) cytoskeleton, which ultimately dictates the shape and function of our body’s cells.

A representative T2-weighted image of a healthy human brain (red arrows indicate the claustrum) compared with a T2-weighted image showing a lesion reported as affecting the claustrum.

Little understood brain region linked to how we perceive pain

28 March 2022

A new DPAG-led review paper, published in the journal Brain, has shown that a poorly understood region of the brain called the claustrum may play an important role in how we experience pain.

Side by side pancreatic islets demonstrating prevalence of glucagon in normal animals and heavily reduced glucagon when ACC1 is knocked out.

New insights into little understood regulator of blood sugar levels

25 March 2022

A new Novo Nordisk project paper has uncovered the role of ACC1 enzyme in the regulation of glucagon secretion for the first time. This raises the prospect of a potential new therapeutic target in the context of type 2 diabetes and metabolic disorders characterised by hyperglycaemia.

Cy5.5-conjugated pH-(low)-insertion peptide (pHLIP, red) to label acidic tumour regions and Hoechst-33342 (blue) to label cell nuclei in the fresh frozen tumor sections of wild-type SW1222 xenografts.

New gene target identified to prevent tumour growth under acidity

11 March 2022

A new paper led by Dr Johanna Michl and Professor Pawel Swietach from DPAG’s Swietach Group has identified a new gene that allows cancer cells to survive in the typically acidic microenvironment of a malignant tumour. They have discovered drugs that inhibit the gene in other medical conditions also selectively kill cancer cells at acidic pH, without damaging healthy tissue. This defines a novel strategy for targeting acidic tumour regions.

A striatal spiny projection neuron labelled with neurobiotin (scale bar 20 µm; inset 2 µm).

New insights into the role of dopamine in reinforcement learning

11 March 2022

A new study from Dr Yanfeng Zhang has uncovered the first evidence that dopamine-dependent long-term potentiation is also gated by the pause of striatal cholinergic interneurons and the depolarisation of the striatal spiny projection neurons. This discovery overturns previous ideas that the phasic dopamine release is the only factor gate corticostriatal synaptic plasticity, thus changing our understanding of dopamine functions in reinforcement learning.

The corticofugal projections from layers 5, 6a, and 6b have distinct relationships to first order (also called relay) nuclei and higher-order (also called association) nuclei of the thalamus. Only the first-order thalamic nuclei receive direct input from the sensory periphery. The higher order thalamic nuclei receive their input from the cortex and relay this back to other cortical areas, providing a route for trans thalamic cortico-cortical communication. Projections from cortical layer 6a provide abundant inputs to all thalamic nuclei and modulate how sensory information is relayed to the cortex. Layer 5 usually provides input to higher-order thalamic nuclei, via axon collaterals of subcortical projections targeting the superior colliculus and spinal cord, among others. These are powerful and large, feed-forward “driver” inputs for relay to other cortical areas. My laboratory discovered that a subgroup of layer 6b neurons (Drd1a-Cre line) preferentially target posterior thalamic nucleus, lateral posterior nucleus of thalamus, and other higher-order and midline thalamic nuclei in the ipsi- and contralateral thalamus, as well as frontal and lateral association cortices. Their axons do not form side branches in (pre)thalamic reticular nucleus. Our work suggests that there is a third type of cortico-thalamic projection in addition to layers 5 and 6a, from layer 6b.

New insights into how the brain rewires after early sensory loss

18 February 2022

A new paper from the Molnár Group has shed light on substantial rewiring of corticothalamic connections that is triggered by early sensory loss during development. The study has identified a new mechanism that significantly rearranges the cortico-thalamo-cortical circuits but has not been considered before in patients with sensory loss for potential therapies.

New book expands the horizons of brain research

17 January 2022

A pioneering book from Professor Zoltán Molnár and Yale Professors Tamas Horvath and Joy Hirsch to be released on 1 February 2022 addresses the fundamental relationship between the body, brain and behaviour.

Switch with a spring: a new model for sleep regulation

16 December 2021

New collaborative research led by the Vyazovskiy Group has shed new light on the role of the hypothalamus in the transition between sleep and wake states.

Oxford-led research maps milestone stage of human development for the first time

18 November 2021

Scientists have shed light on an important stage of early embryonic development that has never been fully mapped out in humans before.

Drug could help diabetic hearts recover after a heart attack

20 October 2021

New research led by Associate Professor Lisa Heather has found that a drug known as molidustat, currently in clinical trials for another condition, could reduce risk of heart failure after heart attacks.

Blood bank storage can reduce ability of transfusions to treat anaemia

13 September 2021

New research from the Swietach Group in collaboration with NHS Blood and Transplant has demonstrated that the process of storing blood in blood banks can negatively impact the function of red blood cells and consequently may reduce the effectiveness of blood transfusions, a treatment commonly used to combat anaemia.

Decorative comparison of rest cells and simulated cells

Overlapping second messengers increase dynamic control of physiological responses

3 September 2021

New research from the Parekh and Zaccolo groups reveals that a prototypical anchoring protein, known to be responsible for regulating several important physiological processes, also orchestrates the formation of two important universal second messengers.

Feeling tired? Here’s how the brain’s ‘hourglass’ controls your need for sleep – new research

24 August 2021

New article on The Conversation website written by Dr Lukas Krone, Associate Professor Vladyslav Vyazovskiy and Professor Zoltán Molnár.

Visceral fat supports various fundamental functions, such as reproduction. However, when it is too abundant, it produces unhealthy levels of proteins and hormones that negatively affect neighbouring tissues and organs. In this study authors reveal the first known neuro-immune process by which brain signals instruct immune function in visceral fat stores.

Scientists Decipher How NeuroImmune Interactions Burn Deep Fat

20 August 2021

A pioneering collaborative mouse study from an international team of researchers including DPAG's Associate Professor Ana Domingos published in Nature offers new therapeutic avenues for reducing visceral fat stores, which have been associated with cardiovascular disease and multiple types of cancer.

Continued ethical animal research needed to advance treatment of brain disease, researchers argue

5 August 2021

More research is needed to improve the treatment of brain diseases such as depression, Alzheimer’s or ADHD. A widely held view within the scientific community is that this cannot be done without ethically conducted animal research. A team of seventy international neuroscientists, including DPAG’s Associate Professor Vladyslav Vyazovskiy, have now published a warning that animal research is under pressure, which endangers the further development of treatments.

The cerebral cortex is shown at the top of the brain with the anterior hypothalamus and junction of forebrain and brainstem positioned below at the lower part of the brain.

Cortex may regulate the need for sleep

2 August 2021

Why we sleep, and the processes behind sleep, are amongst the most interesting questions in modern neuroscience. Researchers at the University of Oxford, including DPAG's Molnár and Vyazovskiy group scientists, have now uncovered a new target for sleep investigations within the mammalian brain – the cerebral cortex. The paper, first authored by Dr Lukas Krone, was published today in Nature Neuroscience.

Reducing fat in the diabetic heart could improve recovery from heart attack

29 July 2021

New research from the Heather Group has shown that in type 2 diabetes an overload of lipids reduces the heart’s ability to generate energy during a heart attack, decreasing chances of recovery.

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