New Understanding of Brain Structure Offers Insights Into Alzheimer's

A study in Nature Neuroscience found that a structure in the brain is configured differently than scientists once assumed, which may shed new light on Alzheimer's disease, reports Medical News Today . Glial cells were previously thought to act as a glue for the more significant neuron cells, but their function is apparently broader. Researchers examined astrocytes, mapping their structure to determine new insights of their role in the brain. The team combined nucleic acid imaging of human and mice brain cells with single-cell genomic data, generating a three-dimensional image of the astrocytes in the cerebral cortex. This revealed that the molecular forms of astrocytes are not uniform, but vary according to their position in the brain. The astrocytes also are separated into distinct layers that are related to, but differ from, layers of neurons that are already well understood. A separate study in Animal Cells and Systems suggested that as Alzheimer's disease develops, astrocytes can get caught in a feedback loop with microglia and trigger inflammation in the glial cells, which makes the microglia neurotoxic. Researchers hope that understanding the structure of glial cells such as astrocytes will lead to new therapeutic interventions for Alzheimer's.