Could we reverse memory loss in Alzheimer’s patients? Mice answer yes!

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Break submission by Aude Marzo, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Faye McLeod, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Patricia Salinas, Professor at Department of Cell and Developmental Biology University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia. A striking characteristic is memory loss. In the brain, nerve cells or neurons make connections, named synapses, to process information. When the synapses are not functional or when the neurons are not well connected anymore, cognitive deficits arise including loss of memory. In Alzheimer’s disease, a molecule called amyloid beta (Aβ), present in a healthy brain becomes deregulated and starts to accumulate in the brain of patients forming the sadly well-known amyloid plaques, one of the hallmarks of the disease. We know that Aβ induces synapse loss triggering deficit in memory, but how this occurs remains uncertain. (read the full Break on TheScienceBreaker)