Researchers from the University of British Columbia have shown that in a mouse model, silencing mutant Huntingtin protein with antisense oligonucleotides was not just effective against the motor problems that are the most salient part of Huntington's chorea (HD), but could also prevent and even reverse the equally troubling cognitive and psychiatric symptoms that are part of the disease.
Researchers from Korea National University have identified the enzyme acid sphingomyelinase (ASM) as a contributor to increased blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability, resulting in neurocognitive dysfunction, during aging.
The revolutionary breakthrough is perhaps the most overused cliché in science communications. It's fair to say, though, that this year's chemistry Nobel Prize went for evolutionary breakthroughs.
Scientists from the Spanish Autonomous University of Barcelona have identified a compound that was able to inhibit the aggregation of alpha-synuclein, the main component of Lewy bodies in Parkinson's disease (PD).
Much attention has been devoted to how the gut influences the brain, traditionally via secreted hormones and, more recently, via the microbiome. Now, it turns out that during all that time, a direct neuronal connection using the classical neurotransmitter glutamate from the intestines to brain has been overlooked.
Researchers at the University of Chicago have demonstrated that by transplanting mice with skin cells expressing a cocaine-metabolizing enzyme, they were able to protect the animals from cocaine overdoses, and prevent drug-seeking behavior and relapse in addicted mice.
