EPFL Brain Mind Institute shows role of lactate in memory
EPFL students, counting on memory
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The number of people with Alzheimers is steadily increasing, prompting fears of living with a crippled memory, or even dying from Alzheimers, which became the sixth leading cause of death in the US in May 2010. Researchers in several countries have set their sights on various aspects of cell life to get to the source of memory and to understand how, biologically, it functions.
Stem cell research is making it possible to grow, in the laboratory, basal forebrain cholinergic neurons (BFCN), a type of nerve cell lost when Alzheimers disease begins to develop, British media reported Monday 7 March. The research could, in the distant future, lead to therapies. It is the latest in a series of efforts to pinpoint key cells that affect the disease.
Astrocytes use lactate to feed neurons
A surprising cell finding is now opening thanks to recent discoveries at the EPFL Brain Mind Institute in Lausanne and Mt Sinai School of Medicine in New York, working together. In a paper published 4 March in the journal Cell, the two show the importance to memory of astrocytes in memorization.
“These cells, which exist in very large quantities in the brain (they are more numerous than the neurons) and which we know are found at the interface between the blood system and the synapses, turn out to be a supplier of energy for the neurons. They feed them with lactate, a ‘cousin’ of glucose in that it originates from the same precursor–glycogen–of which a stock is present in these star-shaped cells. The researchers have been able to prove that this lactate was an indispensable condition for memorization processes to occur.”
The research holds out hope that one day it may be possible to artificially stimulate memory “by acting on the production and transportation of this lactate”. For now, it is leading EPFL researchers under Pierre Magistretti, director of the Brain Mind Institute, in new directions. “The interest for the astrocytes and lactate, which have not been the object of significant study, will certainly increase over the next few years,” says Magistretti.
Ed. note: International Brain Week is marked in Lausanne by a series of lectures open to and aimed at the general public, mostly in French, from nutrition and the brain to understanding synapses: programme.
The approval by the US National Institutes of Health of 13 lines of stem cells for use in research means scientists in the United States will have access to embryonic stem cells for the first time in 10 years. The NIH made the announcement Wednesday 2 December, saying that up to 96 lines could be approved under new guidelines. The US eased its restrictions on stem cell research under the direction of President Barack Obama, early in 2009.
The International Society for Stem Cell Research has issued guidelines for researchers, regulators and patients to combat the growing problem of research to consumer products that are being widely advertised, without scientific testing to back up claims. Reuters
A woman in Spain is in good health five months after having her windpipe replaced by one that was made using her own stem cells to “grow” a new windpipe, a technique developed by a European team that could have major implications for whole organ transplants. The new technique could work around the problem of donor organs being rejected by a body, one of the main reasons for transplant failures. BBC
US President-elect Barack Obama is reviewing executive decisions made by President George Bush and could reverse some of these, including limits on stem cell research and oil drilling expansion, according to his team. International Herald Tribune
