Alzheimer’s disease tagged posts

Georgios Tsiminis in his photonics laboratory. Credit: University of Adelaide

A 1st step towards a low-cost, portable, broadscale vitamin B12 deficiency test has been developed. Vitamin B12 deficiency is associated with an increased risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Such a device would enable the tracking of vitamin B12 levels in high-risk patients and early intervention – to top up vitamin B12 levels when low – and help overcome the limitations of current testing methods which are time-consuming and costly.

“Vitamin B12 deficiency has been shown to be a potential modifiable risk factor for dementia and Alzheimer’s disease and is associated with cognitive decline,” says Dr Georgios Tsiminis, Research Fellow at the University of Adelaide...

Brain cells from a mouse cortex that didn’t receive the gene therapy. The amyloid plaques are shown in green, and the glial cells, which surround the plaques, are shown in red (microglia) and magenta (astrocytes). Image 2 shows a mouse cortex that received the gene therapy, and so had fewer amyloid plaques. Credit: Imperial College London

Researchers have prevented development of Alzheimer’s disease in mice by using a modified virus to deliver a specific gene into the brain. The early-stage findings, by scientists from Imperial College London, open avenues for potential new treatments for the disease. Previous studies by the same team suggest this gene, called PGC1 – alpha, may prevent the formation of a protein called amyloid-beta peptide in cells in the lab...

Neuroglobin expression in the human brain, from the Allen Human Brain Atlas. Credit: brain-map.org

A team at the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre (CSC), Imperial College London, has found an important part of the machinery that switches on a gene known to protect against Alzheimer’s Disease. Working in collaboration with scientists at the Hong Kong University (HKU) and the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, CSC associate professor Richard Festenstein explored the steps by which this Neuroglobin gene is gradually switched on, or up-regulated. Neuroglobin has previously been shown to protect against Alzheimer’s disease in mice in which it makes the protective Neuroglobin...

Schematic of mice with dysfunctional and functional Wnt signaling Source: Alzheimer’s Research UK

Memory loss in mice has been reversed following the discovery of new information about a key mechanism underlying the loss of nerve connectivity in the brain. The team found Wnt proteins play a key role in the maintenance of nerve connectivity in the adult brain and could become targets for new treatments that prevent and restore brain function in neurodegenerative diseases.

Professor Salinas said: “Synapses are absolutely critical to everything that our brains do. When these important communication points are lost, nerve cells cannot exchange information and this leads to symptoms like memory and thinking problems...