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Posts published in “Research”

Researchers answer decades-old question about protein found in Alzheimer’s brain plaques | Eureka Alert

"Alzheimer's-affected brains are riddled with so-called amyloid plaques: protein aggregates consisting mainly of amyloid-β. However, this amyloid-β is a fragment produced from a precursor protein whose normal function has remained enigmatic for decades. A team of scientists at VIB and KU Leuven led by professors Joris de Wit and Bart De Strooper has now uncovered that this amyloid precursor protein modulates neuronal signal transmission through binding to a specific receptor. Modulating this receptor could potentially help treat Alzheimer's or other brain diseases. The results are published in Science."

A New Idea about What Triggers Alzheimer’s | Scientific American


"Certain inherited genetic mutations lead to Alzheimer’s disease (AD), but they are relatively rare. A recent study from my laboratory, however, shows that gene alterations that are not passed along by one’s parents may also play a key role in triggering the disease. This happens as a result of a process that occurs in the cell nucleus, known as gene recombination (GR), which can make changes to the DNA “blueprint” in human neurons."

Essential nutrient may help fight Alzheimer’s across generations | ASU


"In a new study, researchers at the Biodesign Institute explore a safe and simple treatment for one of the most devastating and perplexing afflictions: Alzheimer's disease. Lead authors Ramon Velazquez and Salvatore Oddo, along with their colleagues in the ASU-Banner Neurodegenerative Disease Research Center, investigated the effects of choline, an important nutrient that may hold promise in the war against the memory-stealing disorder. Mice with Alzheimer's-like symptoms receiving supplemental levels of choline in the womb improved their spatial memory. "

Exercise hormone can prevent Alzheimer’s finds study | News-Medical.Net


"According to a large worldwide study, the hormone that is produced in the body during exercise called irisin, can prevent and delay the onset of mental faculty decline and Alzheimer's disease. The results of the study were published in the latest issue of the journal Nature Medicine."

Alzheimer’s Disease May Develop Differently In African-Americans, Study Suggests | NPR


"Scientists have found a biological clue that could help explain why African-Americans appear to be more vulnerable than white Americans to Alzheimer's disease. A study of 1,255 people, both black and white, found that cerebrospinal fluid from African-Americans tended to contain lower levels of a substance associated with Alzheimer's, researchers report Monday in the journal JAMA Neurology."

GABA-A Receptor Structure Point to Drug Mechanisms | Alz Forum

"What do sedatives, general anesthetics, anti-anxiety drugs, alcohol, numerous recreational drugs, and allopregnanolone, a neurosteroid being tested in Alzheimer’s trials, have in common? They all tweak the activity of GABA-A receptors."