Category Research News (General)

Relying on clinical symptoms of memory loss to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease may miss other forms of dementia caused by Alzheimer’s that don’t initially affect memory, reports a new study published in the journal Neurology. There is more than one kind…

A single injection of a new treatment has reduced the activity of the gene responsible for Huntington’s disease for several months in a trial in mice. Huntington’s disease usually only begins to show symptoms in adulthood. There is currently no…

An intriguing finding in nematode worms suggests that having a little bit of extra fat may help reduce the risk of developing some neurodegenerative diseases, such as Huntington’s, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. What these illnesses have in common is that…

A case study now confirms that tau PET images correspond to a higher degree to actual changes in the brain. According to the researchers behind the study, which was published in the journal Brain, this increases opportunities for developing effective…

Knowing that many clinicians find it difficult to correctly diagnose patients with Lewy body dementia, researchers have set out to develop a clinical profile for these patients. Their findings are published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. The study compared…

Researchers have found that the gut may be key to preventing Parkinson’s disease. Cells located in the intestine spark an immune response that protects neurons against damage connected with Parkinson’s disease. Acting like detectives, the immune intestinal cells identify damaged…

In the quest to understand the driving forces behind neurodegenerative diseases, researchers in recent years have zeroed in on clumps of malfunctioning proteins thought to kill neurons in the brain and spinal cord by jamming their cellular machinery. In a…

Researchers report that they have identified a protein that enables a toxic natural aggregate to spread from cell to cell in a mammal’s brain — and a way to block that protein’s action. Their study in mice and cultured cells…

Researchers have identified a potential treatment to delay motor neuron loss and symptoms in the inevitably fatal motor neuron disease (MND). Researchers said triheptanoin, a synthetic triglyceride oil, might help to address problems with energy metabolism associated with the neurodegenerative…

They’re two of the biggest mysteries in Parkinson’s disease research–where does the disease start? And how can it be stopped early in the process? Now, a new laboratory model of Parkinson’s is giving scientists an inside look at what happens…

For the first time, novel expression sites in the brain have been identified for a gene that is associated with Motor Neuron Disease and Frontotemporal Dementia. Many people who develop Motor Neuron Disease, also called Amyotropic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), and/or…

Using the landmark Framingham Heart Study to assess how physical activity affects the size of the brain and one’s risk for developing dementia, researchers have found an association between low physical activity and a higher risk for dementia in older…

New research has identified how cells protect themselves against ‘protein clumps’ known to be the cause of neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease. The study was done using a custom-built laboratory device that can compress neurons inside 3-D…

Researchers have, for the first time, systematically recorded neural activity in the human striatum, a deep brain structure that plays a major role in cognitive and motor function. These two functions are compromised in Parkinson’s disease (PD), which makes the…

Researchers have discovered a gene signature in healthy brains that echoes the pattern in which Alzheimer’s disease spreads through the brain much later in life. The findings, published in the journal Science Advances, could help uncover the molecular origins of…

Prion diseases are deadly neurodegenerative disorders in humans and animals that are characterized by misfolded forms of prion protein (PrP). Development of effective treatments has been hampered by the lack of good experimental models. In a new study published in…

A research project has shown that an experimental model of Alzheimer’s disease can be successfully treated with a commonly used anti-inflammatory drug. Nearly everybody will at some point in their lives take non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs; mefenamic acid, a common Non-Steroidal…

Aducanumab, an antibody developed by the University of Zurich, has been shown to trigger a meaningful reduction of harmful beta-amyloid plaques in patients with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease. These protein deposits in the brain are a classic sign of Alzheimer’s disease…

A protein complex called Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2), which plays a critical role in forming specific classes of nerve cells in the brain during development, also plays an important role in the adult brain where it may contribute to…

Neuroscientists peered into the brains of patients with Parkinson’s disease and two similar conditions to see how their neural responses changed over time. The study may provide a new tool for testing experimental medications aimed at alleviating symptoms and slowing…

A new study has found that a healthy diet, regular physical activity and a normal body mass index can reduce the incidence of protein build-ups that are associated with the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. In the study, 44 adults ranging…

For decades, scientists have known that people with two copies of a gene called apolipoprotein E4 (ApoE4) are much more likely to have Alzheimer’s disease at age 65 than the rest of the population. Now, researchers have identified a connection…

Synucleinopathies, a group of neurodegenerative diseases including Parkinson’s disease, are characterized by the pathological deposition of aggregates of the misfolded α-synuclein protein into inclusions throughout the central and peripheral nervous system. Intercellular propagation (from one neuron to the next) of…

A new and versatile imaging technique enables researchers to trace the trajectories of whole nerve cells and provides extensive insights into the structure of neuronal networks. Lesions caused by traumatic brain damage, stroke and functional decline due to aging processes…

A new multimillion pound study to detect Alzheimer’s disease has been announced. The Deep and Frequent Phenotyping study is funded by the National Institute of Health Research and the MRC and hopes to dramatically improve the success rate of clinical…

Researchers have identified — and shown that it may be possible to control — the mechanism that leads to the rapid build-up of the disease-causing ‘plaques’ that are characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease. The ability of biological molecules, such as our…

The AgedBrainSYSBIO consortium, a four-year project on brain ageing funded by the European Commission under the Health Cooperation Programme of the 7th Framework Programme, is hosting a public workshop, Normal and pathological brain ageing: from systems biology to the clinic.…

A gene associated with Alzheimer’s disease and recovery after brain injury may show its effects on the brain and thinking skills as early as childhood, according to a study published in Neurology. Prior studies showed that people with the epsilon(ε)4…

While strokes are known to increase risk for dementia, much less is known about diseases of large and small blood vessels in the brain, separate from stroke, and how they relate to dementia. Diseased blood vessels in the brain itself,…

A team of researchers has developed the first scalable method to identify different subtypes of neurons in the human brain. The research lays the groundwork for “mapping” the gene activity in the human brain and could help provide a better…

A new study provides additional evidence that amyloid-beta protein — which is deposited in the form of beta-amyloid plaques in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease — is a normal part of the innate immune system, the body’s first-line…

The loss of the Y chromosome in batches of blood cells over time continues to develop as one biological explanation for why men, on average, live shorter lives than women. Researchers reporting in the American Journal of Human Genetics found…

Depression symptoms that steadily increase in older adults are more strongly linked to dementia than any other types of depression, and may indicate the early stages of the disease, according to the first ever long-term study to examine the link…

Because billions of neurons are packed into our brain, the neuronal circuits that are responsible for controlling our behaviors are by necessity highly intermingled. This tangled web makes it complicated for scientists to determine exactly which circuits do what. Now,…

For years, neuroscientists have puzzled over how two abnormal proteins, called amyloid and tau, accumulate in the brain and damage it in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Which one is the driving force behind dementia? The answer: both of them, according to…

A new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has discovered that a protein called IL-33 can reverse Alzheimer’s disease-like pathology and cognitive decline in mice. “IL-33 is a protein produced by various cell types in the…

While research has identified hundreds of genes required for normal memory formation, genes that suppress memory are of special interest because they offer insights into how the brain prioritizes and manages all of the information, including memories, that it takes…

A study appearing in the journal Neuron suggests there may be a new way to change the damaging course of Huntington’s disease. Neurobiologists have shown that reducing the aberrant accumulation of a particular form of the mutant Huntingtin protein corresponds…

Researchers have shown how brain connections, or synapses, are lost early in Alzheimer’s disease and demonstrated that the process starts — and could potentially be halted — before telltale plaques accumulate in the brain. Their work, published online by Science,…

In the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, patients are often unable to remember recent experiences. However, a new study suggests that those memories are still stored in the brain, they just can’t be easily accessed. Researchers report in Nature that…

Researchers have used a non-invasive method of observing how the process leading to Parkinson’s disease takes place at the nanoscale, and identified the point in the process at which proteins in the brain become toxic, eventually leading to the death…

Using a drug compound created to treat cancer, neurobiologists have disarmed the brain’s response to the distinctive beta-amyloid plaques that are the hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. The researchers found that flushing away the abundant inflammatory cells produced in reaction to…

Researchers are studying the causes of premature ageing of neurons in Parkinson’s patients with a defective DJ1 (PARK7) gene. The genetic defect causes changes in the cellular metabolism meaning that neurons are subjected to oxidative stress and an increased immune…

New research shows for the first time that PET scans can track the progressive stages of Alzheimer’s disease in cognitively normal adults, a key advance in the early diagnosis and staging of the neurodegenerative disorder. In the process, the scientists…

Protein aggregates are deemed to be one reason for the death of nerve cells in disorders such as Alzheimer’s or Huntington’s disease. As researchers report in the current issue of Nature, they have now decoded a new cellular mechanism for…

The body has a variety of natural defences to protect itself against neurodegeneration, but as we age, these defences become progressively impaired and can get overwhelmed. Researchers have identified a drug that targets the first step in the toxic chain…

Scientists have developed a new optical technique to study how information is transmitted in the brains of mice. Using this method, they found that only a small portion of synapses — the connections between cells that control brain activity —…

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a devastating progressive neurodegenerative disease that results in the death of motor neurons, the nerve cells that control muscles. Eventually, individuals with ALS will lose their ability to walk,…

Accumulation of amyloid beta in the brain impairs memory and cognitive ability in people with Alzheimer’s. New findings published in Nature Communications show that the cause of amyloid beta pathology might be more versatile than previously known. Researchers believe that…

An innovative tool allows researchers to observe protein aggregation throughout the life of a worm. The development of these aggregates, which play a role in the onset of a number of neurodegenerative diseases, can now be monitored automatically and in…