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neurodegenerative diseases

·August 20, 2012·2 min read

Brain Enzyme is Double Whammy for Alzheimer’s Disease

Researchers discover that an enzyme known for generating toxic brain plaques in Alzheimer's disease also causes additional memory and cognitive deficits via a separate mechanism. They found that BACE1 disrupts the cell's production of other molecules required for PKA function. By that mechanism, BACE1 inactivates PKA and therefore inhibits memory formation in mice, even in the absence of neurotoxic β-amyloid.

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·August 15, 2012·5 min read

Scientists Discover Previously Unknown Cleansing System in Brain

A previously unrecognized system that drains waste from the brain at a rapid clip has been discovered by neuroscientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center and dubbed the glymphatic system.

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·August 9, 2012·3 min read

Blood Test for Alzheimer’s Gaining Ground

Scientists have taken a step toward developing a blood test for Alzheimer's, finding a group of markers that hold up in statistical analyses in three independent groups of patients.

A cup of coffee is shown with the froth in the shape of a brain.

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·August 1, 2012·2 min read

Caffeine May Ease Parkinson’s Symptoms

Caffeine, which is widely consumed around the world in coffee, tea and soft drinks, may help control movement in people suffering from Parkinson's.

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·July 30, 2012·2 min read

Brain Development is Delayed in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Researchers found that development of the cortical surface is delayed in frontal brain regions in children with ADHD. The typically developing children attained 50% peak area in the right prefrontal cortex at a mean age of 12.7 years, whereas the ADHD children didn’t reach this peak until 14.6 years of age.

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·July 24, 2012·4 min read

New Research Determines How a Single Brain Trauma May Lead to Alzheimer’s Disease

A study, performed in mice and utilizing post-mortem samples of brains from patients with Alzheimer’s disease, found that a single event of a moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) can disrupt proteins that regulate an enzyme associated with Alzheimer’s. The paper, published in The Journal of Neuroscience, identifies the complex mechanisms that result in a rapid and robust post-injury elevation of the enzyme, BACE1, in the brain. These results may lead to the development of a drug treatment that targets this mechanism to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

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·July 19, 2012·2 min read

Anti-Tau Drug Improves Cognition, Decreases Tau Tangles in Alzheimer’s Disease Models

Penn Medicine research presented today at the 2012 Alzheimer's Association International Conference shows that an anti-tau treatment called epithilone D (EpoD) was effective in preventing and intervening the progress of Alzheimer's disease in animal models, improving neuron function and cognition, as well as decreasing tau pathology.

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·July 18, 2012·2 min read

Protein Build-Up Leads to Neurons Misfiring

Using a two-photon microscope capable of peering deep within living tissue, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have found new evidence that alpha-synuclein protein build-up inside neurons causes them to not only become leaky, but also to misfire due to calcium fluxes.

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·July 17, 2012·2 min read

Poisoning from Industrial Compounds Can Cause Similar Effects to ALS

Researchers from the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute at the University of Barcelona have coordinated research into how the IDPN nitrile causes neurological syndromes similar to those of the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a severe neuromuscular degenerative disease.

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·July 11, 2012·3 min read

Two Proteins Offer a Clearer Way to Treat Huntington’s Disease

HD mice crossbred with mice that produced greater levels of PGC-1alpha showed dramatic improvement. Production of misfolded proteins was essentially eliminated and the mice behaved normally. “Degeneration of brain cells is prevented. Neurons don’t die,” said La Spada.

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·July 10, 2012·4 min read

Nutrient Mixture Improves Memory in Patients with Early Alzheimer’s

A clinical trial of an Alzheimer’s disease treatment developed found that the nutrient cocktail can improve memory in patients with early Alzheimer’s. The mixture appears to increase the number of dendritic spines and therefore some synapses.