amyloid plaques

What:

"To send messages to their neighbours (and on to the rest of the body), neurons use chemical transmitters that cross the gaps between cells. Here, amyloid plaques are like a traffic jam, blocking cell signalling. Connections between cells are lost - first in the hippocampus, the region in the brain for memory and learning. Neurons die and the affected brain tissue shrinks."

Writer: Clare Watson

LCC:

Where:

Date: May 19 2017 12:42 AM

What:

Their idea was that the brain was producing amyloid for much the same reason an oyster forms a pearl - for self-defense. "Maybe amyloid plaques are a brain pearl," Moir says, "a way for our body to trap and permanently sequester these invading pathogens."

Writer: Neuroscientists Robert Moir and Rudolph Tanzi

LCC:

Where:

Date: Mar 24 2018 10:34 AM