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Natural molecule reverses age- and dementia-related cognitive decline
In a new study, researchers identified a molecule produced by a particular type of brain cell that reversed the cognitive decline seen in both healthy aging and dementia. It provides a deeper understanding of the aging process and a potential target for future treatments.
“Hevin is a well-known molecule involved in neural plasticity,” said the study’s co-corresponding author, Flávia Alcantara Gomes, PhD, head of the Cellular Neurobiology Laboratory in the Institute of Biomedical Sciences at UFRJ. “To our surprise, although the cognitive deficit was reversed in Alzheimer’s model animals, there was no change in the content of the plaques,” said lead and co-corresponding author Felipe Cabral-Miranda, PhD, a scientist at UFRJ’s Institute of Biomedical Sciences. And the results of the study, by finding proof of concept for a molecule that can reverse cognitive decline without affecting beta-amyloid plaques, support the hypothesis that these, although involved in the mechanisms of the pathology, aren’t enough to cause Alzheimer’s.”
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