Loss of Neurons tagged posts

Loss of Neurons, Not Lack of Sleep, makes Alzheimer’s Patients Drowsy

Neurons that promote wakefulness in the brain of an Alzheimer’s patient (green). There are far fewer functioning neurons that would be seen in a healthy brain, indicating that the awake system is weakened in this patient. Image by Grinberg Lab

Reviving ‘awake neurons’ could be the solution to their sleepiness. The lethargy that many Alzheimer’s patients experience is caused not by a lack of sleep, but rather by the degeneration of a type of neuron that keeps us awake, according to a study that also confirms the tau protein is behind that neurodegeneration.

The study’s findings contradict the common notion that Alzheimer’s patients sleep during the day to make up for a bad night of sleep and point toward potential therapies to help these patients feel more awake.

The data came fro...

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