The biological processes giving rise to the central nervous system symptoms of long COVID remain a mystery. But multiple studies suggest they do not appear to be a result of a direct viral infection of brain tissue. The latest such research, which appeared online in Nature Neuroscience on Feb. 16, 2024, demonstrated that local immune response in brain tissues persisted long after SARS-CoV-2 virus had disappeared.

Cannabinoid CB2 receptor and serotonin 5-HT1A receptor agonists have emerged as therapeutic options for their antidepressive and anxiolytic properties, apart from being linked to synergistic antinociceptive activity when used in combination in animal tests.

Voyager Therapeutics Inc. has announced new data from two preclinical programs targeting pathological tau for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.

The company has developed a method of transplantation of human hematopoietic stem cells that allows their engraftment and differentiation into microglial cells.

The biological processes giving rise to the central nervous system symptoms of long COVID remain a mystery. But multiple studies suggest they do not appear to be a result of a direct viral infection of brain tissue. The latest such research, which appeared online in Nature Neuroscience on Feb. 16, 2024, demonstrated that local immune response in brain tissues persisted long after SARS-CoV-2 virus had disappeared.

Shionogi & Co. Ltd. is partnering with Fronteo Inc. to develop artificial intelligence (AI)-based diagnostic tools to diagnose mental and neurological disorders more accurately.

Based on positive phase III study data, Applied Therapeutics Inc. plans to take its CNS-penetrant aldose reductase inhibitor to the U.S. FDA to talk about an NDA for treating the rare disease sorbitol dehydrogenase (SORD) deficiency. Interim data from 12 months of treatment showed govorestat (AT-007) hit the study’s primary endpoints along with several key secondary endpoints. The double-blind, placebo-controlled registrational study of patients ages 16 to 55 is ongoing, with another 12 months of data yet to come. SORD, a hereditary axonal neuropathy created by sorbitol dehydrogenase gene mutations, affects about 3,300 people in the U.S. and about 4,000 in Europe, according to Applied Therapeutics.

Investigators at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disorders (NIDDK) have used a gene-constrained analysis to identify nine new Alzheimer’s disease (AD) risk genes that are possibly linked to the higher prevalence of AD in people with African ancestry. One of those genes, GNB5, regulates the stability of certain G protein-signaling proteins, which are activated by G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). The authors showed that mice with only one copy of Gnb5 developed more amyloid plaques and tau tangles than those with two copies.