Anle138b, a new small-molecule drug, can restore brain function and memory in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease, an international team of researchers has shown. Scientists foresee that the drug could be used to treat Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and ALS. The experimental drug works by stopping toxic ion flow in…
Category: Neurology
New Alzheimer's Mouse Model Simulates Human Disease Better
Amyloid beta facilitates the interaction between plaques and abnormal tau, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine report. This relationship promotes the spread of mutated tau proteins in neurons, which is the hallmark of long-term Alzheimer’s disease. The finding was made by injecting human Alzheimer’s disease (AD) brain extracts of pathological tau protein, from postmortem…
Cerebral Blood Flow Is Altered In Premature Infants
Blood flow in key regions of newborns’ brains is different in very premature infants, according to a new prospective, observational study. The finding may represent an early warning flag for disturbed brain maturation well before such injury is visible on conventional imaging. “During the third trimester of pregnancy, the fetal brain undergoes an unprecedented growth…
How S-nitrosylation Triggers Cell Death In Parkinson’s
A new study from The Scripps Research Institute is the first to show exactly how a process in nerve cells called the S-nitrosylation (SNO) reaction — which can be caused by aging, pesticides and pollution — may contribute to Parkinson’s disease. The leader of the study, Professor Stuart Lipton, M.D., Ph.D., is now investigating how…
RAB10 Gene Variant Confers Protection Against Alzheimer’s
A rare variant of a gene called RAB10 provides a protective effect for high-risk individuals — elderly people who carry known genetic risk factors for Alzheimer’s — who never acquired the disease, a study from Brigham Young University has found. This means there is specific reason why people who should get Alzheimer’s remain healthy. Study…
Neurofilament Light Chain May Predict Multiple Sclerosis Activity
A simple blood test to track a nerve protein in the blood of people with multiple sclerosis (MS) may help predict whether disease activity is flaring up, suggests a new study. “Since MS varies so much from person to person and is so unpredictable in how the disease will progress and how people will respond…
Amyloid-beta Causes Alzheimer’s Associated Endothelial Cell Damage
Recent research has shown precise mechanisms of which amyloid beta peptide – the protein associated with Alzheimer’s disease onset and progression – has detrimental effects on brain endothelial vascular cells. The multi-centre group of scientists behind the study discovered that amyloid-β causes endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) in rat brain endothelial cells (bEND.3), subsequently leading to…
Parkinson's Disease: Low Frequency Brain Stimulation Improves Cognition
Low frequency stimulation of a deep brain region may be able to improve cognitive function in patients with Parkinson’s disease, a multidisciplinary neuroscience study using rare, intraoperative brain recordings suggests. The findings hint at the broader potential of brain stimulation for treating other cognitive diseases. The new work by neurologists and neurosurgeons with the Iowa…
Combinatorial Drug Strategy Could Be Key To Treating Alzheimer’s
Alzheimer’s disease is a notoriously difficult condition to treat. The complete lack of any disease-modifying treatments being licensed since the disease was first diagnosed over 100 years ago exemplifies this difficulty. There are multiple reasons for this failure, and is a contentious issue among some researchers. 4 Major Pathologies Alzheimer’s disease is a complex condition,…