Alzheimer’s disease tagged posts

Engram cell in AD mouse — This image depicts a single memory engram cell (green) in the hippocampal dentate gyrus (DG) region of a mouse model of early Alzheimer’s disease. To optically manipulate specific connections to these engram cells, a blue light-sensitive protein oChIEF was expressed in an upstream brain region, i.e., medial entorhinal cortical inputs (red) to the DG. The majority of DG granule cells were not active during engram labeling (blue, non-engram cells). Credit: Image courtesy of RIKEN

Blue indicates the location of the tiny locus coeruleus within the brainstem. (Photo/Shutterstock.com)

Schematic illustration of the drug discovery strategy described in this work. The strategy consists of four steps: (1) A fragment-based approach that allows the identification of small molecules that interact with the aggregation-prone system, here Aβ42, including FDA-approved molecules for drug repurposing. (2) An in vitro kinetic analysis that identifies the specific molecular steps in the Aβ42 aggregation mechanism responsible for the generation of toxic species. (3) A further kinetic analysis to determine the mechanism of inhibition associated with the molecules identified in step 1. (4) An evaluation of the effects of these molecules on the formation of toxic species in vivo...

Researchers have devised several lipid-based diets aimed at slowing down progression and relieving symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. Credit: Janickova et al, Bentham Science Publishers