{"id":474,"date":"2017-02-01T13:01:09","date_gmt":"2017-02-01T13:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.reading.ac.uk\/the-forum\/?p=474"},"modified":"2021-11-03T14:23:20","modified_gmt":"2021-11-03T14:23:20","slug":"how-the-brains-biological-hoovers-could-help-us-understand-alzheimers-disease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/2017\/02\/01\/how-the-brains-biological-hoovers-could-help-us-understand-alzheimers-disease\/","title":{"rendered":"How the brain&#8217;s &#8216;biological hoovers&#8217; could help us understand Alzheimer&#8217;s Disease"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Dr\u00a0<span class=\"author vcard\"><span class=\"fn\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reading.ac.uk\/pharmacy\/about\/staff\/m-dallas.aspx\">Mark Dallas<\/a><\/span><\/span><span class=\"author vcard\"><span class=\"fn\">, Lecturer in Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, University of Reading<\/span><\/span><\/strong><em><span class=\"author vcard\"><span class=\"fn\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"avatar avatar-64 wp-user-avatar wp-user-avatar-64 photo thinglinkFiltered alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/0399e6d2b8e83833db8d-42940958d2f6a1575512ce9eec8e1fc8.ssl.cf3.rackcdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Dr-Mark-Dallas.jpg\" alt=\"Mark Dallas\" width=\"84\" height=\"84\" \/><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Our hope as dementia scientists is that these cells could unlock a new avenue of treatments that alters the course of Alzheimer\u2019s disease<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The human brain is a complex structure made up of different types of cells. You have probably heard scientists talk about nerve cells or brain cells. These are the cells that are lost in Alzheimer\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n<p>However, there are a similar number of other cell types within the brain, called glial cells. &#8216;Glial&#8217; comes from the Greek word for glue, as these cells were originally believed to hold the nerve cells together. It is now clear that these cells are highly specialised and vital for brain function.<\/p>\n<p>So what are these cells, and how could they help us find treatments for Alzheimer&#8217;s?<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>There are three main cell types that fall within the glia family:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Astrocytes: so-called star shaped cells, responsible for maintaining the environment that the nerve cells exist in<\/li>\n<li>Microglia: the brain\u2019s resident immune cells, are effectively the brain\u2019s police force protecting against injury and infection<\/li>\n<li>Oligodendrocytes: these cells insulate the wiring of the brain, the brain\u2019s resident \u2018Bob the Builder.\u2019<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Dementia researchers, like myself, are keen to investigate what happens to all three types of glial cells in Alzheimer\u2019s disease. My interest lies in understanding the role astrocytes play in brain diseases.<\/p>\n<h4>What do we know already?<\/h4>\n<p>Astrocytes are one specific type of glia that are being widely studied, in the hope that they provide novel avenues for developing medicines to treat Alzheimer\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n<p>We know that unlike nerve cells, astrocytes are not lost in Alzheimer\u2019s disease. While the number of astrocytes remains the same, their activity changes dramatically as the disease progresses. We are now starting to understand these changes and the impact they have on brain health.<\/p>\n<section class=\"entry\">\n<figure id=\"attachment_475\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-475\" style=\"width: 339px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/research-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/72\/2017\/02\/Astrocyte-in-green-as-featured-in-Biochemical-Journal-1024x811-e1485950642486.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-475 \" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.reading.ac.uk\/the-forum\/files\/2017\/02\/Astrocyte-in-green-as-featured-in-Biochemical-Journal-1024x811-300x238.jpg\" width=\"339\" height=\"269\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-475\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">An astrocyte cell in the brain, highlighted in green (as featured on the front cover of Biochemical Journal)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>For example, astrocytes act as &#8216;biological hoovers&#8217; to remove chemical messengers in the brain. In Alzheimer\u2019s, this function is compromised which leads to a build-up of these toxic chemicals leading to the death of the nerve cells.<\/p>\n<p>What we are keen to know is if this is a consequence of the disease, or an early indication that the brain is changing because of the Alzheimer\u2019s disease. If it is an early indication, then we could exploit it to target Alzheimer\u2019s disease before symptoms appear. This could radically change the way we view Alzheimer\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n<h4>The future<\/h4>\n<p>While current Alzheimer\u2019s disease drugs target nerve cells to manage symptoms (such as\u00a0donepezil), we need new medicines.<\/p>\n<p>Our hope is that by understanding astrocytes we can begin the journey to a new medicine that could better manage Alzheimer\u2019s disease. There is also the possibility that because these cells are changed early in the disease process they could prove cellular markers for Alzheimer\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n<p>Our hope as dementia scientists is that these cells could unlock a new avenue of treatments that alters the course of Alzheimer\u2019s disease for future generations.<\/p>\n<h4>Read more<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>Read more about the progress of University of Reading research into astrocytes in this review in Biochemical Journal: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.biochemj.org\/content\/474\/3\/333\">read the full review here<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>A version of this blog first appeared as &#8216;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.dementiablog.org\/its-not-all-about-the-nerve-cells\/\">It\u2019s not all about the nerve cells<\/a>&#8216; on the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.dementiablog.org\/its-not-all-about-the-nerve-cells\/\">Alzheimer&#8217;s Research UK Blog<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Dr Dallas&#8217;s work is made possible due to funding and from Alzheimer&#8217;s Research UK:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.alzheimersresearchuk.org\/about-us\/our-vision\/\">Find out more<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Dr\u00a0Mark Dallas, Lecturer in Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, University of Reading Our hope as dementia scientists is that these cells could unlock a new avenue of treatments that alters&#8230;<a class=\"read-more\" href=\"&#104;&#116;&#116;&#112;&#115;&#58;&#47;&#47;&#114;&#101;&#115;&#101;&#97;&#114;&#99;&#104;&#46;&#114;&#101;&#97;&#100;&#105;&#110;&#103;&#46;&#97;&#99;&#46;&#117;&#107;&#47;&#114;&#101;&#115;&#101;&#97;&#114;&#99;&#104;&#45;&#98;&#108;&#111;&#103;&#47;&#50;&#48;&#49;&#55;&#47;&#48;&#50;&#47;&#48;&#49;&#47;&#104;&#111;&#119;&#45;&#116;&#104;&#101;&#45;&#98;&#114;&#97;&#105;&#110;&#115;&#45;&#98;&#105;&#111;&#108;&#111;&#103;&#105;&#99;&#97;&#108;&#45;&#104;&#111;&#111;&#118;&#101;&#114;&#115;&#45;&#99;&#111;&#117;&#108;&#100;&#45;&#104;&#101;&#108;&#112;&#45;&#117;&#115;&#45;&#117;&#110;&#100;&#101;&#114;&#115;&#116;&#97;&#110;&#100;&#45;&#97;&#108;&#122;&#104;&#101;&#105;&#109;&#101;&#114;&#115;&#45;&#100;&#105;&#115;&#101;&#97;&#115;&#101;&#47;\">Read More ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"__cvm_playback_settings":[],"__cvm_video_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1785],"tags":[58,59,234,555,675],"class_list":["post-474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-agriculture-food-and-health","tag-alzheimers","tag-alzheimers-disease","tag-dementia","tag-mark-dallas","tag-pharmacy"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How the brain&#039;s &#039;biological hoovers&#039; 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