Houston scientists discover neuronal allies that may help fight Alzheimer’s disease

In recent years, various technologies have developed by leaps and bounds; one by one, medicine and scientific research aimed at determining the cause of many diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease they continue to develop.

There are many universities and research centers that study various systems, cells and other components of the human body to try to find a cure or prevent the development of diseases.

Until recently, experts believed that neurons were the only ones responsible for processing memory, but A team of scientists discovered that astrocytes, a type of non-neuronal cell found in the brain that is shaped like a star, They are also involved in the formation and restoration of memories.

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston conducted the study. a discovery that would change everything we currently know about memory and memory formation.opening up a new perspective when studying pathologies and diseases related to memory, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, or other types of disorders that destroy memories and are difficult to suppress, such as post-traumatic stress.

The study’s findings were recently published in the journal Nature and explain it Neurons do not work alone, but certain groups of neurons cooperate with astrocytes to regulate the storage and retrieval of all memories. person.

The laboratory of Benjamin Dennen, the study’s lead author and a professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at Baylor, has spent many years of his career studying astrocytes and the interactions these cells have and generate with neurons.

“We found that these cells interact closely with each other, both physically and functionally, and that this is important for proper brain function.”– reads the publication.

Experts note in a publication made in the magazine Nature that we need to study the activity of astrocytes associated with brain circuits and demonstrate that they are involved in memory formation. The team developed a set of laboratory tools and conducted a large number of experiments on mice..

It was known that one of these experiments was to make these animals feel fear and become paralyzed after they were exposed to a certain dangerous situation, then after some time the mice were placed in the same situation again and they remained motionless because they discovered the ability to remember.

Similarly, the researchers found that if the same mice were placed in the same situation but in a different context, they did not freeze because it was a familiar situation that did not evoke feelings of fear in them.

A team of experts led by Benjamin Dennen demonstrated that during In mice learning fear conditioning, a subset of astrocytes located in the brain express the c-Fos gene and regulate circuit function in this brain region..

“Astrocytes expressing c-Fos are physically close to engramic neurons. Also We found that engram neurons and the physically connected pool of astrocytes are functionally coupled: activation of the astrocyte pool specifically stimulates synaptic activity or communication in the corresponding neuronal engram.”study co-author Michael R. Williamson details.

*Alejandra Hernandez Torres