Join the club for FREE to access the whole archive and other member benefits.

Drinkable molecule interferes with a crucial first step of Alzheimer’s

Improvements in laboratory technology enable mass screening of molecules like these

02-Jan-2019

Key points from article :

Binding of amyloid beta peptides to prion proteins triggers devastating events.

Yale screened tens of thousands of compounds for molecules that interfere with the interaction.

An old antibiotic was a promising candidate but only after decomposing to form a polymer.

Small polymers managed to pass through the blood-brain barrier.

In mice, synapses in the brains were repaired and lost memory recovered.

The next step is to verify the compounds aren’t toxic in preparation for clinical trials.

The study was published in the journal Cell Reports.

Mentioned in this article:

Click on resource name for more details.

Cell Reports

Journal publishing research papers across a broad range of disciplines within the life sciences.

Dartmouth College

Private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States.

Erik Gunther

Associate Research Scientist in Neurology at Yale University.

Stephen Strittmatter

Vincent Coates Professor of Neurology and director of Yale Alzheimer's Disease Research Center.

Topics mentioned on this page:
Mental Health