For the first time in history, a team of researchers from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) has managed to reverse memory loss in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease using gene therapy in a group of laboratory mice.
Scientists have discovered that there is a cellular mechanism that participates in the memory consolidation process , therefore, they used an injection into the hippocampus (the area of the brain that participates in the processing of memory, both spatial and episodic) of a gene which does nothing but produce the Crtc1 protein (involved in glucose metabolism and cancer), which Alzheimer’s is responsible for blocking . Thanks to this gene therapy, the protein is produced normally, triggering the necessary signals that activate the consolidation of long-term memory.
The study, which has been published in The Journal of Neuroscience , has been possible thanks to the specific identification of this protein , comparing gene expression in the hippocampus of healthy mice and mice inoculated to develop Alzheimer’s disease. Thanks to the use of DNA microchips, the experts were able to identify that the set of genes involved in memory consolidation coincided with the genes that regulate the Crtc1 protein .
“When the Crtc1 protein is altered, the genes responsible for the synapses or connections between neurons in the hippocampus cannot be activated and the individual cannot perform memory tasks correctly”, explains Carlos Saura, researcher at the UAB Institute of Neurosciences and leader Of the investigation.
After seeing the effectiveness of this gene therapy in mice, thanks to this discovery, new techniques may be developed for the prevention of the disease and its treatment , since, until now, the cellular mechanisms that caused alterations in nerve transmission were unknown. and memory loss in the early stages of the disease.
