More than a century after its discovery, no effective prevention or treatment exists for this progressive deterioration of brain tissue, memory and identity. With more people living to older ages, there is a growing need to clarify Alzheimer’s disease risk factors and disease mechanisms and use this information to find new ways in which to treat and prevent this terrible disorder.
A new reagent discovered by research scientists at St George’s, University of London has shown real-time brain behaviour in more detail than ever before.The sensor, iGluu, will now be made available to other researchers who may be working on either the fundamental properties of neuronal signalling or on neurodegenerative disease such as Huntington’ and Alzheimer’s disease. The sensor will help reveal what goes wrong with glutamate signalling in these conditions.
