TASK-3, two-pore potassium channels, contribute to circadian rhythms in the electrical properties of the suprachiasmatic nucleus and play a role in driving stable behavioural photic entrainment.

Stable and entrainable physiological circadian rhythms are crucial for overall health and well-being. The suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), the primary circadian pacemaker in mammals, consists of diverse neuron types that collectively generate a circadian profile of electrical activity. However, the mechanisms underlying the regulation of endogenous neuronal excitability in the SCN remain unclear.

The solute carrier SLC7A1 may act as a protein transporter at the blood-brain barrier.

Despite extensive research, targeted delivery of substances to the brain still poses a great challenge due to the selectivity of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Most molecules require either carrier- or receptor-mediated transport systems to reach the central nervous system (CNS). These transport systems form attractive routes for the delivery of therapeutics into the CNS, yet the number of known brain endothelium-enriched receptors allowing the transport of large molecules into the brain is scarce.

Neurons derived from individual early Alzheimer's disease patients reflect their clinical vulnerability.

Establishing preclinical models of Alzheimer's disease that predict clinical outcomes remains a critically important, yet to date not fully realized, goal. Models derived from human cells offer considerable advantages over non-human models, including the potential to reflect some of the inter-individual differences that are apparent in patients. Here we report an approach using induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cortical neurons from people with early symptomatic Alzheimer's disease where we sought a match between individual disease characteristics in the cells with analogous characteristics in the people from whom they were derived.

Functional analysis of missense variants in the TRESK (KCNK18) K channel.

A loss of function mutation in the TRESK K2P potassium channel (KCNK18), has recently been linked with typical familial migraine with aura. We now report the functional characterisation of additional TRESK channel missense variants identified in unrelated patients. Several variants either had no apparent functional effect, or they caused a reduction in channel activity.

An extended genome scan in 442 Canadian multiple sclerosis-affected sibships: a report from the Canadian Collaborative Study Group.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a complex trait with a sibling relative risk (lambda(sibs)) between 18 and 36. We report a multistage genome scan of 552 sibling pairs from 442 families, the largest MS family sample assessed for linkage. The first stage consisted of a genome scan for linkage with 498 microsatellite markers at an average spacing of 7 cM in 219 sibling pairs.

Significant linkage to migraine with aura on chromosome 11q24.

Migraine with aura (MA) is a prevalent neurological condition with strong evidence for a genetic basis. Familial hemiplegic migraine, a rare Mendelian form of MA, can be caused by mutations in the calcium channel gene, CACNA1A or in the ATP1A2 gene, a Na+/K+ pump. Susceptibility genes for the more prevalent forms of migraine have yet to be identified despite several reports of linkage including loci on 4q24, 1q31, 19p13 and Xq24-28.