A UT Southwestern study in mice provides new clues about how a class of anti-rejection drugs used after organ transplants may also slow the progression of early-stage Alzheimer’s disease.
A UT Southwestern study in mice provides new clues about how a class of anti-rejection drugs used after organ transplants may also slow the progression of early-stage Alzheimer’s disease.
Alzheimer’s, a progressive form of dementia, affects an estimated 5 million people in the U.S. – a number expected to nearly triple by 2050. Although Alzheimer’s usually strikes after age 65, changes in the brain can begin years before symptoms appear, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The researchers studied how the connections between neurons – synapses – are lost early in the course of the disease. This loss likely causes the behavioral and memory changes that occur as the disease develops, said Dr. James Malter, Chairman of Pathology and corresponding author of the Science Signaling study. The study’s first authors are Drs. Nancy Stallings and Melissa O’Neal, both Instructors of Pathology.
Dr. Malter explained that nerve cells initially lose dendritic spines, tiny branchlike extensions at the ends of neurons that receive information across synapses from nearby cells. Synapses – the junctions where communication between neurons occurs – are also lost. The area of the brain that is most affected governs higher-order functions such as language, spatial reasoning, conscious thinking, sight, hearing, and other senses.
Read more at UT Southwestern Medical Center
Image: This is Dr. James Malter. (Credit: UT Southwestern Medical Center)
