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Category: neuroscience

Blood stem cell mutations linked to lower risk of late-onset Alzheimer’s disease

A study published in Cell Stem Cell reveals that some mutations in blood stem cells might help protect against late-onset Alzheimer’s disease.

A team led by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine discovered that both a mouse model and people carrying blood stem cells with mutations in the gene TET2, but not in the gene DNMT3A, had a lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Their study proposes a mechanism that can protect against the disease and opens new avenues for potential strategies to control the emergence and progression of this devastating condition.

“Our lab has long been studying blood stem cells, also called ,” said lead author Dr. Katherine King, professor of pediatrics— and a member of the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy and the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center at Baylor. She is also part of Texas Children’s Hospital.

Ultrafast 12-minute MRI maps brain chemistry to spot disease before symptoms

Illinois engineers fused ultrafast imaging with smart algorithms to peek at living brain chemistry, turning routine MRIs into metabolic microscopes. The system distinguishes healthy regions, grades tumors, and forecasts MS flare-ups long before structural MRI can. Precision-medicine neurology just moved closer to reality.

Proteins important in brain communication have different roles than previously thought

Cellular communication between neurons within our brain is complex and busy, much like a USPS mailroom.

To keep things running smoothly, the brain uses specialized molecules, termed alpha-2-delta (α2δ) proteins, to coordinate the sending and receival of signals between nerve cells in the brain.

Genetic variations in these types of proteins can impact important brain messaging and function, resulting in chronic pain, , epilepsy, migraines, and other conditions.

Triglycerides may play an important role in brain metabolism

While glucose, or sugar, is a well-known fuel for the brain, Weill Cornell Medicine researchers have demonstrated that electrical activity in synapses—the junctions between neurons where communication occurs—can lead to the use of lipid or fat droplets as an energy source.

The study, published in Nature Metabolism, challenges “the long-standing dogma that the brain doesn’t burn fat,” said principal investigator Dr. Timothy A. Ryan, professor of biochemistry and of biochemistry in anesthesiology, and the Tri-Institutional Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at Weill Cornell Medicine.

The paper’s lead author, Dr. Mukesh Kumar, a postdoctoral associate in biochemistry at Weill Cornell Medicine who has been studying the cell biology of fat droplets, suggested that it makes sense that fat may play a role as an energy source in the brain like it does with other metabolically demanding tissues, such as muscle.

Inhibiting enzyme could halt cell death in Parkinson’s disease, study finds

Putting the brakes on an enzyme might rescue neurons that are dying due to a type of Parkinson’s disease that’s caused by a single genetic mutation, according to a new Stanford Medicine-led study conducted in mice.

The study has been published in Science Signaling.

The genetic mutation causes an enzyme called leucine-rich repeat kinase 2, or LRRK2, to be overactive. Too much LRRK2 changes the structure of brain cells in a way that disrupts crucial communication between neurons that make the and cells in the striatum, a region deep in the brain that is part of the dopamine system and is involved in movement, motivation and decision-making.

Scientists reprogram ant behavior using brain molecules

Leafcutter ants live in highly organized colonies where every ant has a job, and now researchers can flip those jobs like a switch. By manipulating just two neuropeptides, scientists can turn defenders into nurses or gardeners into leaf harvesters. These same molecular signals echo in naked mole-rats, revealing a deep evolutionary link in how complex societies function, even across species. The study also teases out a possible connection to insulin and longevity, hinting at new frontiers in understanding human behavior and lifespan.