Research
I think this is a great place to start if you are looking for general knowledge on neurodegeneration. It includes basic information as well as pages specific to different diseases and areas to look into clinical trials.
C.H. van Dyck, C.J. Swanson, P. Aisen, R.J. Bateman, C. Chen, M. Gee, M. Kanekiyo, D. Li, L. Reyderman, S. Cohen, L. Froelich, S. Katayama, M. Sabbagh, B. Vellas, D. Watson, S. Dhadda, M. Irizarry, L.D. Kramer, and T. Iwatsubo
Researchers recently had a breakthrough with an antibody that may be able to slow the decline of those with Alzheimer’s. This antibody, called lecanemab, binds to amyloid beta (Aβ). An accumulation of Aβ is believed to initiate progress of Alzheimer’s. The study took place over 18 months. The 1795 enrolled participants had early Alzheimer’s and ranged from 50-90 years old. They showed either mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia, and also had evidence of amyloid buildup. The participants were split in half, one group was given an intravenous placebo, and the other half received intravenous lecanemab. The study concluded that lecanemab reduced amyloid buildup in early Alzheimer’s and was successfully able to slow down decline of cognition and function moderately.
Andrea L. C. Schneider, MD, PhD, Elizabeth Selvin, PhD, MPH, Lawrence Latour, PhD, L.
Christine Turtzo, MD, PhD, Josef Coresh, MD, PhD, Thomas Mosley, PhD, Geoffrey Ling,
MD, PhD, Rebecca F. Gottesman, MD, PhD
To determine the link between Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Dementia, researchers developed a clinical trial. The study had a pool of 14,376 participants, with a mean age of 54 baseline and diversity in race and gender. The participants had been diagnosed with TBI, and from there the researchers performed cognitive testing to see signs of dementia. The results were clear: head injury can definitely be correlated with dementia. In this particular study, dementia risk was strongest for white females.
Pablo D. Perez, Gabrielle Hall, Tetsuya Kimura, Yan Ren, Rachel M Bailey, Jada Lewis, Marcelo Febo, Naruhiko Sahara
Tauopathies are essentially an abnormal folding pattern in the brain causing loss of normal protein function. In neurodegenerative disease, this is often correlated to tau protein. In this study, researchers studied how mutant mice showed symptoms of abnormal protein folding and synthesis, similarly to what happens in the human brain. They used special imaging technology, manganese-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging, to get detailed results of function in different areas of the mices’ brains. They found the most restricted areas of function were in the hippocampus and amygdala, regions known for their role in memory.