An article published online by the Journal of Neurochemistry describes a study using laboratory mice that had been bred to have brain changes similar to Alzheimer’s disease. The scientists were able to reduce two characteristic features of the disease by modifying the mice’s immune systems with a special peptide (MOG45D) related to the myelin sheath that insulates nerve cells and nerve fibers. As a result, anti-inflammatory cells were recruited from the blood into the brain, dampening the local inflammatory response. [continue reading…]
Alzheimers
A new type of brain scan, called diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), appears to be better at detecting whether a person with memory loss might have brain changes of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study published in the January 6, 2010, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. [continue reading…]
Hobbie-J is a genetically engineered rat. Hobbie-J’s NR2B gene, (which controls memory), was boosted as an embryo. The rodent can remember objects three times as long as its smartest peers and can better solve complicated puzzles like mazes.
But even a super rat has its limits. For example with one test, the rats had to learn to alternate between right and left paths to get a chocolate reward. Both did well when they only had to wait a minute to repeat the task, after three minutes only Hobbie-J could remember and after five minutes, they both forgot. “We can never turn it into a mathematician. They are rats, after all,” Dr. Tsien says, noting that when it comes to truly complex thinking and memory, the size of the brain really does matter. Dr. Joe Z. Tsien is co-director of the MCG Brain & Behavior Discovery Institute and co-corresponding author on the paper published Oct. 19 in PLoS ONE (see http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0007486). Dr. Xiaohua Cao at East China Normal University also is a co-corresponding author.
The finding validates NR2B as a drug target for improving memory in healthy individuals as well as those struggling with Alzheimer’s or mild dementia. Although it could take decades to develop a safe drug, the study is seen as an exciting development.
Source: University of Georgia
Researchers at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have discovered a mechanism that controls the brain’s ability to create lasting memories. In experiments on genetically manipulated mice, they were able to switch on and off the animals’ ability to form lasting memories by adding a substance to their drinking water. The findings, which are published in the scientific journal PNAS, are of potential significance to the future treatment of Alzheimer’s and stroke. [continue reading…]
