Alzheimer's Research Points to a New Culprit: Broken Cellular Communication and Altered Gene Expression
Lessons from the SORL1 gene
There’s an interesting new study on Alzheimer's, microRNAs, and exosomes that sheds a lot of light on the underlying pathologies going on in this neurodegenerative disease.
Background:
Exosomes are tiny vesicles that cells release to communicate with one another. The outer membrane of the vesicle is formed from the cell’s membrane, which encapsulates the payload inside the cell and then is released outside the cell.
Exosomes are formed and released from multiple tissues in the body as a way that cells can communicate both with nearby cells and with the whole body through circulating in the blood.
Researcher classify exosomes by where they are formed (e.g., from neurons vs. from the pancreas), by their size (tiny or even tinier), and by what they carry (neurotransmitters, lipids, mRNA, microRNAs, proteins, and more).
In the brain, exosomes carry signals for neurogenesis, synaptic plasticity, stress response, and even neurotransmitters.
The Alzheimer’s connection:
