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Team uses copper to image Alzheimer’s aggregates in the brain
A proof-of-concept study conducted in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease offers new evidence that copper isotopes can be used to detect the amyloid-beta protein deposits that form in the brains of people living with – or at risk of developing – Alzheimer’s.
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Two-phase theory applies to diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, muscle atrophy
Researchers in Rice’s Department of BioSciences, propose that degeneration, at the cellular level, occurs in two distinct phases that are marked by very different activities of protein signaling pathways that regulate basic cell functions. “We would like clinicians and other researchers to understand that the two phases of degeneration represent distinct entities, with distinct alterations […]
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JAX, UMaine scientists lead discovery of new connection between Alzheimer’s dementia and existing gene
By studying the memory and brain tissue from a large group of genetically diverse mice, the team found that the expression of the gene Dlgap2 is associated with the degree of memory loss in mice and risk for Alzheimer’s dementia in humans. Further research will ascertain how the gene influences dementia and mental function. Dlgap2, […]
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Dormant threat: Abnormal proteins unleash latent toxicity in neurodegenerative diseases
In a recent study published in the Journal of Cell Biology, scientists from Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology, Korea, have discovered the mechanism of action by which abnormal proteins actually unleash the inherent, but normally latent, toxicity of a natural protein in neurons, causing defects in dendrites (branched parts of a neuron that […]
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Early signs of Alzheimer’s disease in people with Down’s syndrome
Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have studied the incidence and regional distribution of Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers in the brains of people with Down’s syndrome. The results can bring new possibilities for earlier diagnosis and preventive treatment of dementia. The study is published in Molecular Neurodegeneration. In the current study, the researchers studied the extent […]
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Taking Out the Trash is Essential for Brain Health
A research team at Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) find that Wipi3, a protein involved in cellular waste disposal, is crucial for neuronal health Tokyo, Japan – A little mess never killed anyone, right? Wrong. Researchers at Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) have recently shown that a build-up of cellular “trash” in the […]
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CLCN6 identified as disease gene for a severe form of lysosomal neurodegenerative disease
A mutation in the CLCN6 gene is associated with a novel, particularly severe neurodegenerative disorder. Scientists from the Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie (FMP) and the Max Delbrück Center für Molekulare Medizin (MDC), together with an international team of researchers, have now analyzed the effect of a point mutation that was found in three unrelated affected […]
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Diabetes increases neuritic damage around amyloid plaques in Alzheimer’s disease
New research from the University of Eastern Finland explores the role of diabetes in the cellular and molecular changes underlying Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In an AD mouse model, diabetes induced through a diet rich in fats and sugars weakened the accumulation of microglial cells around amyloid plaques and increased the formation of neuritic plaques with […]
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Tau protein changes correlate with Alzheimer’s disease dementia stage
Research into Alzheimer’s disease has long focused on understanding the role of two key proteins, beta amyloid and the tau protein. Found in tangles in patients’ brain tissue, a pathological form of the tau protein contributes to propagating the disease in the brain. In new research from their joint laboratory, Judith Steen, PhD, and Hanno […]
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The long road to dementia
Alzheimer’s disease develops over decades. It begins with a fatal chain reaction in which masses of misfolded beta-amyloid proteins are produced that in the end literally flood the brain. Researchers including Mathias Jucker from the Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research (HIH) in Tübingen and the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) show in the […]