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Researchers block key protein that helps Parkinson’s spread through the brain

6 hours 54 minutes ago
A newly identified protein called GPNMB may play a major role in helping Parkinson’s disease spread through the brain. Researchers discovered that immune cells release the protein in response to damaged neurons, creating a vicious cycle that speeds up brain cell degeneration. In early experiments, antibodies that blocked GPNMB stopped the toxic process from spreading between cells.

New depression treatment targets the immune system instead of the brain

9 hours 24 minutes ago
A surprising new approach to depression treatment is showing early promise — not by targeting brain chemicals, but by calming the immune system. In a small clinical trial, researchers found that an anti-inflammatory drug normally used for rheumatoid arthritis appeared to ease symptoms in people with hard-to-treat depression, while also reducing fatigue and anxiety and improving quality of life.

New drug could finally stop deadly fatty liver disease

1 day 1 hour ago
Scientists at UC San Diego have unveiled a potentially game-changing treatment for MASH, a severe fatty liver disease affecting millions worldwide. The experimental drug, ION224, blocks a liver enzyme that drives fat buildup and inflammation, two key forces behind liver damage. In clinical trials, patients showed striking improvements in liver health, even without losing weight.

Popular anti-aging drug combo caused severe brain damage in mice

1 day 1 hour ago
A drug combo widely explored for anti-aging may actually damage the brain, according to new mouse research showing severe loss of myelin and changes linked to “chemo brain.” Surprisingly, the damaged cells resembled those seen in multiple sclerosis, giving scientists a new lead in understanding—and potentially repairing—the disease.

New laser heat treatment could stop blindness before it starts

1 day 2 hours ago
A new experimental treatment could finally offer hope for millions of people with dry age-related macular degeneration — one of the leading causes of blindness in older adults. Researchers at Aalto University discovered a way to gently heat tissue at the back of the eye using near-infrared light, triggering the cells’ natural “cleanup and repair” systems before major damage occurs.

State-specific inhibition of NMDA receptors by memantine provides insight into NMDAR channel blocker tolerability

1 day 4 hours ago
N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptors (NMDARs) are key mediators of calcium ion (Ca^(2+)) influx required for proper neuronal function. Excessive NMDAR-mediated Ca^(2+) influx is neurotoxic and associated with neurological disease. Memantine and ketamine, two NMDAR antagonists with overlapping binding sites in the NMDAR channel, are of high clinical interest. Whereas memantine is a well-tolerated Alzheimer's disease medication, ketamine is a fast-acting antidepressant with abuse potential and...
Matthew B Phillips

The PET tracer [<sup>11</sup>C]MODAG-005 targets alpha-synuclein aggregates in the brain

1 day 4 hours ago
Synucleinopathies are neurodegenerative diseases characterized by the presence of brain inclusions containing the pathologically aggregated protein α-synuclein. The development of a positron emission tomography tracer to detect aggregates of misfolded α-synuclein could revolutionize early diagnosis, disease monitoring, and the evaluation of therapeutic efficacy. Here, we present the development, preclinical validation, and first-in-human evaluation of [^(11)C]MODAG-005. In vitro binding...
Ran Sing Saw

Lifespan normative modeling of brain microstructure

1 day 4 hours ago
Normative models of brain metrics based on large populations could be extremely valuable for detecting brain abnormalities in patients with a variety of disorders, including degenerative, psychiatric and neurodevelopmental conditions, but no such models exist for the brain's white matter (WM) microstructure. Here we present a large-scale normative model of brain WM microstructure - based on 19 international diffusion MRI datasets covering almost the entire lifespan (totaling N = 54,583...
Julio E Villalón-Reina

Brain maintenance biomarkers from structural and functional interactions in aging and neurodegeneration

1 day 4 hours ago
Brain maintenance may help explain why some individuals remain cognitively resilient despite aging, but its biological basis is not well understood. Here, we show that brain maintenance can be quantified from the relationship between brain structure and function. Using structural MRI and resting-state functional MRI from 1280 older adults, we built a model based on young adults to estimate the functional capacity supported by preserved brain structure, and defined brain maintenance as the...
Yumeng Li

Universal transcriptomic hallmarks of mammalian ageing and mortality

1 day 4 hours ago
Ageing and interventions modulate health and mortality¹, yet the underlying molecular mechanisms of this modulation remain unclear. Here we integrate more than 11,000 transcriptomes from more than 25 tissues across 4 mammals (mouse, rat, macaque and human) to develop accurate, interpretable rodent and multi-species biomarkers of chronological age and expected mortality, predicting lifespan-modulating interventions, time to death, chronic diseases and rejuvenation. Ageing-related changes were...
Alexander Tyshkovskiy

Mechanism of age-related accumulation of mtDNA mutations in human blood

1 day 4 hours ago
Accumulation of mutant mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) heteroplasmy is among the strongest signatures of ageing¹. Here we investigated the underlying mechanism by calling mtDNA sequence, mtDNA abundance and mtDNA heteroplasmic variants in human blood using whole-genome sequences from approximately 750,000 individuals. We observed that mtDNA single-nucleotide variants (mtSNVs) accumulate sharply at age 60 years, occur at low levels of heteroplasmy, exhibit little evidence of positive selection and are...
Rahul Gupta

Human haematopoietic stem cells remember inflammatory stress

1 day 4 hours ago
Inflammation activates blood cells, contributing to ageing and malignancy^(1-3). Haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) survive a lifetime of infection to sustain life-long haematopoiesis^(1-9), but how human HSCs respond and adapt to inflammatory stress is largely unknown. Here, to empirically understand this adaptation, we developed xenograft inflammation-recovery models and performed single-cell multiomics on xenografted human HSCs. Two transcriptionally and epigenetically distinct HSC subsets were...
Andy G X Zeng

Lifespan normative modeling of brain microstructure

1 day 4 hours ago
Normative models of brain metrics based on large populations could be extremely valuable for detecting brain abnormalities in patients with a variety of disorders, including degenerative, psychiatric and neurodevelopmental conditions, but no such models exist for the brain's white matter (WM) microstructure. Here we present a large-scale normative model of brain WM microstructure - based on 19 international diffusion MRI datasets covering almost the entire lifespan (totaling N = 54,583...
Julio E Villalón-Reina