Scientists switch memory's rhythm cells back on in Alzheimer's mice

Learning and remembering run on a fast brain rhythm — a kind of electrical beat — and the cells that keep that beat are called PV cells. In Alzheimer's disease the beat falters early, even before a diagnosis, as those cells lose their power. A team led by Keran Ma at UTHealth Houston, with colleagues at the Gladstone Institutes and the Allen Institute, has now shown the cells can be revived: giving Alzheimer's-model mice one missing building block of the cells' electrical machinery restored the cells' function, brought the rhythm back, and returned the orderly pattern in which the cells take turns firing. It is early, animal-stage work — a proof of principle in mice, not a treatment for people — but it names a precise target for future therapies: help the rhythm-keepers, and the rhythm may follow.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: tech innovation