A new candidate drug reduced inflammation and improved memory in human cell cultures and Alzheimer’s mouse models. The work was co-led by the lab of Li-Huei Tsai at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory.
The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory found that the two closely related neuronal subtypes differed from each other in how they expressed more than 800 genes. By manipulating genes whose expression differed most prominently, the scientists were then able to show how they produced several of the observable differences between the cells.
MIT researchers report that thalamic inputs into superficial layers of the cortex are not only rare, but also surprisingly weak, and quite diverse in their distribution patterns. Despite this, they are reliable and efficient representatives of information in the aggregate, and their diversity is what underlies these advantages.
MIT research shows that in people carrying the APOE4 risk variant, a key brain cell type mismanages cholesterol needed to insulate neurons properly another sign that APOE4 contributes to Alzheimer's disease by disrupting lipids in the brain.
Observations of Covid-19 patients who have been slow to wake up after the end of sedation suggest that the brain may be adopting a previously unknown protective, hibernation-like state.