Alzheimer disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that impairs memory and mental function. It is the most common form of dementia, accounting for 60–70% of cases, and its prevalence is increasing worldwide, a trend that is expected to continue for the next few decades. Memory loss in Alzheimer disease is driven by the loss ofContinueContinue reading “Refining HDAC inhibition to restore memory”
Tag Archives: neurodegeneration
Protecting neurons from misfolded prion proteins
Prion disease, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis all share a common etiology: neurodegeneration linked to the misfolding and aggregation of a specific protein. But the causes of neuronal death in these diseases are still poorly understood, impeding the development of strategies to prevent neurodegeneration. To fill this knowledgeContinueContinue reading “Protecting neurons from misfolded prion proteins”
Toward a better understanding of tau
Results presented at Neuroscience 2014, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience (15–19 November 2014; Washington, DC), highlighted the central role of tau protein in neurodegeneration associated with Alzheimer’s disease and with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Almost 36 million people worldwide suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, and 10 million or more sustain TBI each year.ContinueContinue reading “Toward a better understanding of tau”
Reversing neurodegenerative hearing loss
Exposure to loud noises can damage the synapses connecting nerves and hair cells in the cochlea of the ear, causing noise-induced hearing loss that can be permanent. Effective strategies to prevent or reverse this damage and the associated hearing loss are lacking. The coenzyme nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) can protect neurons from damage in vitro,ContinueContinue reading “Reversing neurodegenerative hearing loss”
A block that slows neurodegeneration
Results presented by Lynn Raymond (University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada) at the 2014 Canadian Neuroscience Meeting held 25–28 May in Montreal show that blocking specific glutamate receptors in the brain improved motor learning and coordination and prevented cell death in a mouse model of Huntington disease. Huntington disease can be detected before any clinicalContinueContinue reading “A block that slows neurodegeneration”
Fisetin protects cognitive function in Alzheimer’s
Fisetin is a compound found in food plants that has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and can improve memory and protect neurons from the effects of aging. Pamela Maher (Salk Institute for Biological Sciences, La Jolla, CA) and her colleagues surmised that many of these attributes could potentially be useful in treating Alzheimer’s disease, the mostContinueContinue reading “Fisetin protects cognitive function in Alzheimer’s”
Mouse models of prion diseases
Prion diseases are unusual, infectious, potentially deadly, neurodegenerative diseases caused by transmission and toxic accumulation of misshapen prion protein (PrP) in the brain. A lack of animal models that accurately recapitulate prion disease pathology has impeded our understanding in this area; therefore, the characterization of new mouse models of fatal familial insomnia (FFI) and Creutzfeld-JakobContinueContinue reading “Mouse models of prion diseases”
New target for Parkinson’s treatment
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (Baltimore, MD) have identified a promising new target for treating Parkinson’s disease and further shown that drugs already in development may effectively reach that target. Lab Anim. (NY) 42, 345 (2013). view full text (login required)
A spoonful of sugar
Mary Poppins may not be medically trained, but she was right about at least one thing: a spoonful of sugar really does help the medicine go down. Mannitol is a sugar alcohol used commercially as an artificial sweetener and medically to facilitate the delivery of drugs into the brain by disrupting the blood–brain barrier. Now,ContinueContinue reading “A spoonful of sugar”
A possible cause of Parkinson’s disease
Parkinson’s disease, the second most common neurodenegerative disorder, affects roughly 1% of people over 60 years old. It is characterized by a loss of dopamine-producing neurons in a region of the brain that regulates movement and coordination. For most cases of Parkinson’s disease, the underlying cause is unknown but is thought to comprise both geneticContinueContinue reading “A possible cause of Parkinson’s disease”
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