- New research shows that glial cells play an important role in producing amyloid beta, a protein linked to Alzheimer’s disease.
- The study, undertaken by scientists at the Max Planck Institute, challenges long-standing views and could lead to new treatment approaches for the disease.
- Although Alzheimer’s disease remains incurable, these findings may help to develop therapies aimed at delaying plaque formation and slowing disease progression at an early stage.
Alzheimer’s disease, which is the most common form of dementia, affects millions of individuals globally, and cases are reportedly on the rise.
Now, scientists at the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Multidisciplinary Sciences have discovered that, along with neurons, certain glial cells in the brain also produce amyloid beta.
Their new research, published in
While Alzheimer’s disease currently has no cure, some treatments aim to reduce amyloid plaques in the brain, potentially slowing the disease’s progression.
Previously, neurons were believed to be the primary source of amyloid beta and the main focus for drug development.
First author Andrew Octavian Sasmita, PhD, currently a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience at University College Cork in Ireland, explained the key findings of this new study to Medical News Today.
“Although neurons are thought to be the sole producers of beta-amyloid which gets deposited into extracellular plaques — one of the primary pathologies in Alzheimer’s disease — the myelinating glia of the central nervous system, oligodendrocytes, also produce beta-amyloid and contribute to plaque deposition,” he told us.
“We also observed that excitatory neurons in the cortex…
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