For over a century, Alzheimer’s disease has confounded all attempts to treat it. But in recent years, perplexing experiments using flickering light have shown promise. Now, researchers have tapped into how the flicker may work. They discovered in the lab that the exposure to light pulsing at 40 hertz—40 beats per second—causes brains to release […]
Home » Alzheimer's »
Novel compound is promising drug candidate for Alzheimer’s disease
A newly identified compound is a promising candidate for inhibiting the production of amyloids, the abnormal proteins that form toxic clumps, called fibrils, inside the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease. As published today in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Chemical Communications, the compound—known as “C1″—uses a novel mechanism to efficiently prevent the enzyme gamma-secretase […]
Exploring how lipids and cholesterol relate to Alzheimer’s
Professor Jing Xu and her students study extremely tiny motor proteins, but their work could make a huge contribution to the growing body of knowledge about Alzheimer’s and other diseases that progressively destroy brain tissue. Alzheimer’s disease is, so far, untreatable and incurable and is the sixth most common cause of death in adults in […]
Killing brain cells believed to fight Alzheimer's could delay disease
Alzheimer’s could be halted with treatment which eliminates immune cells in the brain, scientists claim Tangled tau protein in the brain is a recognised tell-tale of an Alzheimer’s patient When tau becomes knotted, immune brain cells known as microglia attack it But in doing so, the microglia actually damages the neuron and causes damage Alzheimer’s […]
Targeting immune cells may be potential therapy for Alzheimer’s
Messy tangles of a protein called tau can be found in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease and some other neurodegenerative diseases. In Alzheimer’s, the tangles coalesce just before tissue damage becomes visible in brain scans and people start to become forgetful and confused. Now, a new study has found that brain immune cells […]
Eye scan sheds new light on Alzheimer’s disease
New research by Australian scientists has demonstrated that a quick, non-invasive eye scan can identify changes in the retina that could be used to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease. In a world-first, the team led by Associate Professor Peter van Wijngaarden and Dr. Xavier Hadoux from the Centre for Eye Research Australia and University of Melbourne, has […]
‘Novel drug may protect against Alzheimer disease’
Recent studies have found that Alzheimer's may develop without dementia in nearly 25 per cent of healthy 80-year-old patients, suggesting the body may turn to compensatory mechanisms to maintain the nervous system, said researchers from the University at Buffalo in the US. Scientists have discovered a new drug that may protect against memory loss, nerve […]
How the eyes might be windows to the risk of Alzheimer’s disease
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) begins to alter and damage the brain years—even decades—before symptoms appear, making early identification of AD risk paramount to slowing its progression. In a new study published online in the September 9, 2019 issue of the Neurobiology of Aging, scientists at University of California San Diego School of Medicine say that, with […]
A protective factor against Alzheimer’s disease?
Researchers at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) and the Institute for Stroke and Dementia Research (ISD) at the University Hospital of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) in Munich have found that a protein called TREM2 could positively influence the course of Alzheimer’s disease. When TREM2 is present in the cerebrospinal fluid at higher concentrations, patients […]
Biochemists discover new insights into what may go awry in brains of Alzheimer’s patients
More than three decades of research on Alzheimer’s disease have not produced any major treatment advances for those with the disorder, according to a UCLA expert who has studied the biochemistry of the brain and Alzheimer’s for nearly 30 years. “Nothing has worked,” said Steven Clarke, a distinguished professor of chemistry and biochemistry. “We’re ready […]