UC Riverside scientists will use a $2 million NIH grant to study the brain’s locus coeruleus
UC Riverside has received a $2 million grant from the National Institute of Aging to study how the brain’s main norepinephrine production center regulates perception and memory in older adults.
The results could improve noninvasive diagnoses and treatments for dementias associated with old age or Parkinson’s disease. The project will be led by bioengineering professor Xiaoping Hu and psychology professor Aaron Seitz.
The locus coeruleus is a region of the brain involved with physiological responses to stress and fear. It is the primary producer in the brain of norepinephrine, a hormone that activates the body’s “fight or flight” response to frightening or stressful situations by increasing heart rate, releasing glucose into the bloodstream, and increasing blood flow to the muscles… Continue reading.