The disruption of axons—the thread-like part of nerve cells that transmits electrical signals—is associated with Alzheimer's disease. One way axonal function may be hindered is through damage to the ...

Human brains (and the brains of other vertebrates) are able to process information faster because of myelin, a fatty substance that forms a protective sheath over the axons of our nerve cells and ...

Ancient viruses have really gotten on our nerves, but in the best of ways. One particular retrovirus — embedded in the DNA of jawed vertebrates — helps turn on production of a protein needed to ...

Researchers report February 15 in the journal Cell that ancient viruses may be to thank for myelin—and, by extension, our large, complex brains. The team found that a retrovirus-derived genetic ...

Edited by: Karen Young Kreeger K.W. Wucherpfennig, J.L. Strominger, "Molecular mimicry in T cell-mediated autoimmunity: Viral peptides activate human T cell clones specific for myelin basic protein," ...

You might well think that myelin, the fatty insulation that speeds action potentials between neurons, falls solely under the purview of oligodendrocytes. After all, these specialized cells wrap ...

The disruption of axons—the thread-like part of nerve cells that transmits electrical signals—is associated with Alzheimer’s disease. One way axonal function may be hindered is through damage to the ...