
An astrocyte cell in the brain, highlighted in green (as featured on the front cover of Biochemical Journal)
For example, astrocytes act as ‘biological hoovers’ to remove chemical messengers in the brain. In Alzheimer’s, this function is compromised which leads to a build-up of these toxic chemicals leading to the death of the nerve cells.
What we are keen to know is if this is a consequence of the disease, or an early indication that the brain is changing because of the Alzheimer’s disease. If it is an early indication, then we could exploit it to target Alzheimer’s disease before symptoms appear. This could radically change the way we view Alzheimer’s disease.
The future
While current Alzheimer’s disease drugs target nerve cells to manage symptoms (such as donepezil), we need new medicines.
Our hope is that by understanding astrocytes we can begin the journey to a new medicine that could better manage Alzheimer’s disease. There is also the possibility that because these cells are changed early in the disease process they could prove cellular markers for Alzheimer’s disease.
Our hope as dementia scientists is that these cells could unlock a new avenue of treatments that alters the course of Alzheimer’s disease for future generations.
Read more
- Read more about the progress of University of Reading research into astrocytes in this review in Biochemical Journal: read the full review here.
- A version of this blog first appeared as ‘It’s not all about the nerve cells‘ on the Alzheimer’s Research UK Blog
- Dr Dallas’s work is made possible due to funding and from Alzheimer’s Research UK: Find out more
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