Analysis of 1.6 million brain cells from older adults has captured the cellular changes that occur in Alzheimer's early stages, revealing potential new targets and routes for prevention.
Analysis of 1.6 million brain cells from older adults has captured the cellular changes that occur in Alzheimer's early stages, revealing potential new targets and routes for prevention.
"Our study highlights that Alzheimer's is a disease of many cells and their interactions, not just a single type of dysfunctional cell," says Columbia neurologist Philip De Jager, who led the study with Vilas Menon, assistant professor of neurological sciences at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, and Naomi Habib of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
"Past studies have analyzed brain samples as a whole and they lose all cellular detail," De Jager says."We now have tools to look at the brain in finer resolution, at the level of individual cells. When we couple this with detailed information on the cognitive state of brain donors before death, we can reconstruct trajectories of brain aging from the earliest stages of the disease.
Data from all 1.6 million cells were then analyzed by algorithms and machine-learning techniques developed by Menon and Habib to identify the types of cells present in the sample and their interactions with other cells. Then after the pathology has accumulated, different cells called astrocytes play a key role in altering electrical connectivity in the brain that leads to cognitive impairment. The cells communicate with each other and bring in additional cell types that lead to a profound disruption in the way the human brain functions.
Healthy Aging Alzheimer's Research Nervous System Dementia Alzheimer's Intelligence Disorders And Syndromes
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