Nature Neuroscience

As our brains develop, cells within it ‘eat’ neuronal elements to clear out debris, pathogens and help improve efficiency. A recent study showed that motor learning in mice helped enhance the engulfing of synapses by Bergmann glial cells. The discovery could have possible implications for explaining why synaptic shrinkage and loss occur in depression, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer’s disease.

Despite great investments, an effective drug-based treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia among the elderly, remains elusive. Scientists led by Duke-NUS Medical School, in collaboration with Monash University, have published an online atlas of gene expressions at single-cell level in Alzheimer’s disease brains, aiming to boost to efforts to identify gene targets for drug development.

New research documents how modifications to RNA keep nerve junctions flexible.