Alzheimer’s disease tagged posts

Transient and stable DNA methylation during memory acquisition and maintenance.

Their study confirms that the formation of memories is accompanied by an altered activity of specific genes. In addition, they found unprecedented evidence that supports the hypothesis DNA methylation may be the molecular basis of long-term memory.

The scientists stimulated long-term memory in mice, by training the animals to recognise a specific test environment. Based on tissue samples, they could discern to what extent this learning task triggered changes in the activity of the genes in the mice’s brain cells. Their focus was on epigenetic modifications. Gene regulation can happen through methylation. Changes in the histones that are packaging the DNA may also occur.

Hennion: “Research on epigenetic change...

This image shows reduced levels of BRCA1 (red) in neurons (blue). Amyloid-beta plaques in the brain can deplete neurons of BRCA1, potentially contributing to cognitive deficits in Alzheimer’s disease. Credit: Elsa Suberbielle

Researchers from the Gladstone Institutes have shown for the first time that the protein BRCA1 is required for normal learning and memory and is depleted by Alzheimer’s disease. BRCA1 is a key protein involved in DNA repair, and mutations that impair its function increase the risk for breast and ovarian cancer. The new study shows Alzheimer’s disease is associated with a depletion of BRCA1 in neurons and that BRCA1 depletion can cause cognitive deficits.

“BRCA1 has so far been studied primarily in dividing (multiplying) cells and in cancer, which is characterized by a...

Neural cell adhesion molecule 2 in PDB entry 2v5t

UNSW scientists have discovered how connections between brain cells are destroyed in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease – work that opens up a new avenue for research on possible treatments for the degenerative brain condition. “One of the first signs of Alzheimer’s disease is the loss of synapses ” says Dr Vladimir Sytnyk, of the UNSW School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences. “Synapses are required for all brain functions, and particularly for learning and forming memories. In Alzheimer’s disease, this loss of synapses occurs very early on, when people still only have mild cognitive impairment, and long before the nerve cells themselves die.

The team studied a protein in the brain called neural cell adhesion molecule 2, or

Deposits of Beta-Amyloid in Fruit Flies Stopped by Using Porphyrin and Blue LED Lights

Medical application of photoactive chemicals offers a promising therapeutic strategy for neurodegenerative diseases. A Korean research team jointly led by Professor Chan Beum Park of Materials Science and Engineering Department at KAIST and Dr. Kwon Yu from Bionano Center at KRIBB conducted research to suppress an abnormal assembly of beta-amyloids by using photo-excited porphyrins.

Light-induced treatments using organic photosensitizers have advantages to managing the treatment in time and area. In the case of cancer treatments, doctors use photodynamic therapies where a patient is injected with an organic photosensitizer, and a light is shed on the patient’s lesion...