The Life Sciences building at EPFL in Lausanne

Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A team of researchers at the Brain Mind Institute at the EPFL in Lausanne has unraveled one of the mysteries that is part of the larger question of how Alzheimers works. In an article that appears Wednesday 3 March in The Journal of Neuroscience, the group  of laboratories working with the Institute’s director, Pierre Magistretti, has studied studied how the functions of cells called astrocytes are impaired when “possessed” by aggregated, or built up, Amyloid-Beta.

Amyloid-Beta protein, found in cerebral plaques, is typically present in the brain of Alzheimer’s patients.

The exact mechanism leading to the formation of plaques as well as their precise role in neurodegeneration, is still a matter of debate by scientists. The study sought to understand how a build-up of the Amyloid-Beta protein may disable the correct functioning of astrocytes, which normally protect, repair, and transfer energy to neurons.

The team believes their breakthrough will help in the hunt for new therapies for Alzheimers, which affects some 26 million people worldwide today. The number of people affected by the crippling memory loss disorder is expected to increase as much as fourfold by 2050.

Magistretti, who is also head of the Center for Psychiatric Neurosciences at Chuv/Unil (University of Lausanne hospitals)  and Igor Allaman, post doctoral fellow in Magistretti’s lab, have succeeded in determining how built-up Amyloid-Beta infiltrates the astrocyte cells and alters their proper functioning, thus leading to the death of surrounding neurons. “To penetrate the astrocyte, the pathological protein goes through a ‘scavenger’ receptor,” says Allaman. “Our study has shown that if we impair Amyloid-Beta build-up, or activation of this receptor, astrocytes continue to fulfill their normal neuroprotective functions even in the presence of the Amyloid-Beta.”

Article: “Amyloid-Beta Aggregates Cause Alterations of Astrocytic Metabolic Phenotype: Impact on Neuronal Viability”

Authors

from the Brain Mind Institute (EPFL): Igor Allaman, from the Laboratory of Neuroenergetics and Cellular Dynamics, Mathilde Gavillet from the Laboratory of Neuroenergetics and Cellular Dynamics, Mireille Bélanger from the Laboratory of Neuroenergetics and Cellular Dynamics, Thierry Laroche from the Cellular Imaging Facility, David Viertl from the Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology and Functionnal Neuroproteomics, Hilal A Lashuel from the Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology and Functionnal Neuroproteomics, and Pierre J Magistretti from the Laboratory of Neuroenergetics and Cellular Dynamics and the Centre de Neurosciences Psychiatriques, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois, Departement de Psychiatrie, Site de Cery, Prilly.

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