Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia but the changes in brain cell function underlying memory loss remains poorly understood.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia but the changes in brain cell function underlying memory loss remains poorly understood. Researchers at the University of Bristol have identified that calcium channel blockers may be effective in treating memory loss.
The team's findings, published in Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience, found treating a diseased brain cell with a blocker of the L-type channel reduced the number of calcium ions able to flow into the brain cell.
The researchers used fruit flies to study AD, using a fluorescent molecule called GCaMP6f, which reports the amount of calcium ions inside brain cells.
They found that diseased brain cells become overloaded with calcium ions, which at normal levels are important for memory formation. This overload was due to the overproduction of the gene encoding a channel, known as the L-type channel, which allows calcium ions to flow into the cell from outside. More of these channels means more calcium ions are able to flow into the cell, disrupting memory formation. Using a drug to block the L-type channel reversed the effect of disease and reduced the flow of calcium ions to a normal level.
Read more at University of Bristol
Image: Treating diseased brain cells with calcium channel blockers: A diseased brain cell (middle) has more L-type channels, and consequently more calcium ions inside it, than a healthy brain cell (left). Treating the diseased cells with a blocker of the L-type channel reduced the number of calcium ions able to flow into the cell (right) (Credit: University of Bristol)
