In a rare set of findings released in Nature Aging, researchers have unveiled that potentially toxic senescent cells in the brain may be a target for future development of Alzheimer’s disease treatment.
According to the research team, about 2 percent of the brain cells that they assessed as part of their study were senescent. Specifically, the study showed that the senescent cells were neurons. Neurons are crucial for the processing of information for the working memory, but also a hallmark indicator of Alzheimer’s when losses occur.
The findings were validated upon assessing postmortem brain tissue samples from patients with Alzheimer’s.
“Now that we have identified these cells in the brain, we have opened the door to many possibilities, including treatment options for people with Alzheimer’s,” said co-author Miranda Orr in a news release.
“Dr. Orr’s innovative research stands out as an exciting new way to target one of the many underlying factors that contribute to Alzheimer’s disease.”
The study was published on December 10th, 2021.
