For decades researchers have known that Alzheimer’s disease (AD) causes the atrophy of a system of neurons and synapses highly involved in memory, learning and attention, which is highly dependent on a molecule known as nerve growth factor (NGF). The disease causes dysregulation of NGF’s metabolism, leading to the loss of the synapses and neurons that depend on it, akin to plants being deprived of light.
A new study led by researchers at McGill University and published recently in Molecular Psychiatry, provides evidence that this dysregulation caused by the Alzheimer’s pathology begins decades before cognitive impairments…
