Alzheimer’s disease tagged posts

A cell nucleus from a normal, healthy brain is shown at left. The lamin nucleoskeleton forms the perimeter around the nucleus. By contrast, tunnel-like anomalies are evident in the nucleus of the Alzheimer’s disease-affected cell shown at right. This image is from the laboratory of Bess Frost, Ph.D., of the School of Medicine and Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Credit: Laboratory of Bess Frost, Ph.D./UT Health Science Center San Antonio

A new finding offers a insight into one of the earliest biological events of Alzheimer’s disease and is expected to open new avenues of study. Neuronal cell death in Alzheimer’s disease is linked to disruption of a lamin nucleoskeleton that surrounds the nucleus of the cells...

IGF-1R Regulates Short-Term Synaptic Facilitation under Physiological and AD-Related Conditions

Researchers find IGF-1 receptor, “master” lifespan regulator, plays critically important role regulating the transfer of information within neural circuits. They hope their findings can be used to indicate a new direction for therapy used to treat patients in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.

The research reveals IGF-1R as a differential regulator of 2 different modes of transmission – spontaneous and evoked – in hippocampal circuits of the brain. “We know that IGF-1R signaling controls growth, development and lifespan, but its role in AD has remained controversial,” said Dr. Slutsky...

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...