New strategy reduces brain damage in Alzheimer’s and related disorders, in mice

Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis • March 18, 2022June 28, 2022

Astrocytes are normal non-neuronal brain cells, but in their reactive form they can harm, rather than protect, brain tissue. Mice with tau tangles in their brains — a model of Alzheimer’s and related diseases — have fewer reactive astrocytes (green) in their brains when treated with the drug digoxin (left) than untreated mice (right). Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have discovered that targeting astrocytes reduces tau-related brain damage and inflammation in mice, a finding that could lead to better therapies for Alzheimer’s and related tauopathies.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common and best known of the tauopathies, a set of neurodegenerative brain diseases caused by toxic tangles of the protein tau. A study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has shown that targeting astrocytes — an inflammatory cell in the brain — reduces tau-related brain damage and inflammation in mice.