Trial data for aducanumab did not answer key questions, such as how long patients should stay on drug, leaving clinicians around the world to struggle with practical and ethical issues.
Using isotope labeling and mass spectrometry imaging, researchers detail how plaques first assemble with an Aβ1-42 core, expand, then subsume Aβ1-38. Plaques start in cortex, then spread to hippocampus.
When you show a monkey an image of a familiar visage, a specialized cluster of face neurons in the monkey’s temporal pole fire rapidly. Their activity could explain the split-second speed of familiar face recognition.
Compared to amyloid PET and cortical thickness, tau PET better foretold waning cognition across the Alzheimer's disease spectrum, from cognitively normal to dementia. Age, but not sex or APOE status, hastened deterioration over two years.
In a tauopathy mouse model, overexpressing the receptor lowered ApoE, prevented microglial activation, and lessened neurodegeneration. LDLR—a drug target for neuroprotection?
In cultured neurons, these types of spines contain similar amounts and distributions of synaptic proteins, but mushroom spines boast more secretory and trafficking proteins, forging stronger synapses. And, holy moly, the videos!
Scientists linked genetic risk variants with protein changes in Alzheimer’s brain, cerebrospinal fluid, and plasma. They identified known drugs that target some of them.
Typically a sign of viral infection, double-stranded RNAs were spotted in C9ORF72 carriers, in whom they mingled with cytoplasmic TDP-43 inclusions. In mice, dsRNAs spread between connected neurons, provoking Type I interferon response and killing cells.
In carriers of the allele, cognition falters a bit earlier than in noncarriers. Brain amyloid, structure, and metabolism changed, as previously seen in sporadic and familial AD, but only some of the fluid markers did.
Single-nucleus RNA sequencing detected microglia, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes with unique gene expression in late-stage AD brain. Where DNA at transcription factor binding sites was accessible, target gene expression rose.
A meta-analysis of 2.8 million people estimates 119 in 100,000 develop dementia before age 64—twice the previous estimates. Prevalence increases with age and strikes men and women equally.