MIT Researchers Make Discovery That Could Lead To The Reversal Of Alzheimer's Disease [View all]

Story by David Wetzel • 14h ago

snip

Neuroscientists at MIT have discovered a way to potentially reverse neurodegeneration and other issues related to Alzheimer's disease, according to a news release from the school.

Researchers, experimenting on mice, found that interfering with an enzyme that is typically overactive in the brains of people with Alzheimer's can reverse the degeneration in the brain.


The neuroscientists treated the mice with a peptide that successfully blocked the hyperactive version of enzyme CDK5 and found that it resulted in heavy reductions in the neurodegeneration and DNA damage taking place inside the brain. The experiment resulted in those mice improving in their ability to perform tasks such as navigating a water maze.

“We found that the effect of this peptide is just remarkable,” says Li-Huei Tsai, director of MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory and the senior author of the study. “We saw wonderful effects in terms of reducing neurodegeneration and neuroinflammatory responses, and even rescuing behavior deficits.”

snip

More at link. Knewz.

Link to story at MIT website.