Research clears up how brain ‘cleaners’ fail in ALS

Research clears up how brain ‘cleaners’ fail in ALS
Using samples donated to Mayo Clinic’s Brain Bank for Neurodegenerative Disorders, as well as mouse models, biochemistry, confocal microscopy, and computational simulations, researchers showed that a receptor on microglial cells, called TREM2, can clear a protein that builds up in the brains of patients with ALS. Image created with BioRender. Credit: Mayo Clinic

In preclinical studies, Mayo Clinic scientists and collaborators have identified the molecular mechanism used by the brain’s “cleaners” as they remove a problematic protein in the brain. This work, published in Nature Neuroscience, demonstrates that the cleaners—resident immune cells in the brain called microglia—play a protective role in a mouse model of Lou Gehrig’s disease, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis…

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