Characterizing a toxic offender
Friday, December 9, 2011 - 07:01
in Biology & Nature
The brains of individuals with Alzheimer's disease contain protein aggregates called plaques and tangles, which interfere with normal communication between nerve cells and cause progressive learning and memory deficits. Now, a research team led by Takaomi Saido from the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Wako has identified a particular fragment of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) that contributes to the formation of plaques in the brain.