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Originally published by The Scripps Research Institute, on May 22, 2024   A tiny glass tube (top left) represents the electrode recording from an excitatory human Alzheimer's neuron, generated using modern stem cell techniques (dark blue, at tip of tube). Credit: Scripps Research According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , at least 5.8 million Americans are currently living with Alzheimer's disease, which is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for Alzheimer's, in part because scientists do not yet have a full understanding of what causes the disease. But a new study from Scripps Research is shedding light on the molecular drivers that could contribute to Alzheimer's progression. In the study, published in Advanced Science , the researchers used a new technique for studying single, living brain cells affected by Alzheimer's disease. By measuring the electrical activity of single neurons and the protein levels within ...

Originally published by VIB (the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology) on April 15, 2024 APP-C-Terminal Fragments (APP-CTFs) accumulate between the endoplasmic reticulum and the lysosomes,. Credit: VIB Alzheimer's disease (AD) remains one of the most challenging and prevalent neurodegenerative disorders, affecting millions of individuals worldwide. In a new study published in Developmental Cell, researchers from the lab of Wim Annaert ( VIB-KU Leuven ) have identified a novel mechanism potentially connected to the early stages of AD . They demonstrated that a fragment of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) , called APP-CTF , disrupts communication between cellular compartments crucial for calcium storage and waste disposal , which could be an early event p receding neuronal cell death . These findings, with potential implications for the development of new AD treatments, suggest that preventing APP-CTF accumulation needs to be taken into account to develop more effective t...

Originally published by Anna Björklund on November 1, 2023 Photo: Getty Images An early phase in the process of developing Alzheimer’s disease is a metabolic increase in a part of the brain called the hippocampus , report researchers from Karolinska Institutet in a study published in Molecular Psychiatry . The discovery opens up for new potential methods of early intervention . Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia and strikes about 20,000 people in Sweden every year. Researchers now show that a metabolic increase in the mitochondria , the cellular power plants, is an early indicator of the disease.  Per Nilsson. Photo: Erik Cronberg The teams behind the study used mice that developed Alzheimer’s disease pathology in a similar way to humans. The increase in metabolism in young mice was followed by synaptic changes caused by disruption to the cellular recycling system (a process known as autophagy ), a finding that was awarded the N obel Prize...

Originally published by Justin Jackson , Medical Xpress, on July 6, 2023   Thinking about the time. Credit: Freeimages.com Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified proteomic changes associated with forms of Alzheimer's disease (AD) . In a paper, "Proteomics of brain, CSF, and blood identifies molecular signatures for distinguishing sporadic and genetic Alzheimer's disease ," published in Science Translational Medicine , the researchers identify specific and shared proteomic changes associated with sporadic Alzheimer's disease (AD) across brain tissue, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and blood . ...