July 19, 2019
In a recent study, a group of researchers from Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, Feinberg School of Medicine, and Tel Aviv University examined astrocytes in mice and found that these cells exhibited a senescent phenotype that led to neurodegeneration and neurotoxicity [1]. Age-dependent increase in senescent astrocytes adjacent to Aβ plaques Cellular senescence, discovered in 1961...
October 23, 2018
Researchers from the Salk Institute have discovered that a protein called Chrdl1, secreted by astrocytes, is responsible for driving synapse maturation and limiting brain plasticity later in life [1]. Abstract In the developing brain, immature synapses contain calcium-permeable AMPA glutamate receptors (AMPARs) that are subsequently replaced with GluA2-containing calcium-impermeable AMPARs as synapses stabilize and mature....
September 20, 2018
Scientists at the Mayo Clinic have implicated senescent cells in yet another age-related pathology—namely, Alzheimer's disease. Led by Dr. Darren Baker, the Mayo Clinic team discovered that clearing senescent microglia and astrocytes in murine brains leads to a much better prognosis for neurodegenerative disease [1]. Study abstract Cellular senescence, which is characterized by an irreversible...
