New research has revealed greater detail about the brain’s structure, suggesting avenues for future research into Alzheimer’s disease and related illnesses.
A new study has revealed more detail about key brain cells. The team of investigators has found that a structure in the brain is arranged differently than the scientific community once believed.
The discovery may have implications for the understanding of neurodegenerative illnesses such as Alzheimer’s disease.
The researchers have published their findings in the journal Nature Neuroscience.
Glial cells exist in the brain, and scientists previously thought that they functioned as a putty or glue for the more significant neuron cells. However, a growing body of research is demonstrating that glial cells do far more than help structure and protect neuron cells.
In particular, they may play an important role in the development of neurodegenerative illnesses such as Alzheimer’s disease.
In the present study, the authors focused on one type of glial cell: astrocytes, which are star-shaped. Despite mounting evidence of the importance of glial cells such as astrocytes, the way that these cells are structured had never been investigated.
The team set out to map the structure of astrocytes to see if this could provide further information about their function in the brain.
To do this, the authors studied the brain cells of mice and humans, developing a new methodology to enable them to see glial cells in greater detail.
This involved combining nucleic acid imaging of human and mice brain cells with single-cell genomic data held at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, a genetics researc