Science, Space and Technology News 2024
Scientists have achieved a groundbreaking discovery in Alzheimer’s research by mapping the molecular structures within a human brain using cryo-electron tomography, focusing on key proteins β-amyloid and tau associated with dementia. This study, conducted at the University of Leeds and published in, provides insights into how these proteins disrupt brain functions and could pave the way for new therapeutic approaches for neurological diseases.
This gave 3-dimensional maps in which they could observe proteins, the molecular building blocks of life a million times smaller than a grain of rice, within the brain. The study zoomed in on two proteins that cause dementia– ‘β-amyloid’, a protein that forms microscopic sticky plaques, and ‘tau’ – another protein that in Alzheimer’s disease forms abnormal filaments that grow inside cells and spread throughout the brain.
This study revealed the molecular structure of tau in tissue, how amyloids are arranged, and new molecular structures entangled within this pathology in the brain. Dementia is the leading cause of death in the UK, with Alzheimer’s its most common form.In Alzheimer’s disease, both β-amyloid plaques and abnormal tau filaments are thought to disrupt cellular communication, which leads to symptoms such as memory loss and confusion, and cell death.
Over the past 70 years, a vast catalog of molecular structures has been accumulated by several thousand scientists across the globe, each working with proteins in isolation in a test tube. However, it has long been known that most functions in biology are the consequence of an orchestra of many different proteins.
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