Dementia affects millions of people around the world. It causes problems with memory, thinking, and reasoning.
While scientists have studied dementia for many years, they still don’t fully understand what causes it, and there is no cure yet. But new research is giving us more clues—and hope—for future treatments.
A recent study from scientists at Weill Cornell Medicine looked at special brain cells called astrocytes. These cells were once thought to only play a support role in the brain, helping other more important cells do their job. But now researchers believe astrocytes might be more important than we thought—especially in dementia.
The team discovered that when astrocytes don’t work properly, people can lose their memory—even if other brain cells like neurons are still healthy. The problem seems to be linked to a protein called TDP-43.
This protein builds up inside astrocytes in the hippocampus, which is the part of the brain that controls memory. When too much TDP-43 builds up, it may cause the brain’s immune system to go into overdrive, leading to memory problems.
To test this, scientists ran experiments on mice and also on brain cells grown in the lab. They found that when TDP-43 builds up in astrocytes, the mice started to lose their memory, even though their other behaviors were normal. This means that memory loss can be caused just by changes in astrocytes—not damage to neurons.
The researchers also found that the astrocytes with too much TDP-43 became very active in ways that looked like they were fighting a virus, even though no virus was present. These astrocytes produced large amounts of immune signals called chemokines.
These chemokines then triggered nearby neurons to become “hyperactive,” which led to memory and thinking problems. This shows that an overactive immune response inside the brain could be enough to cause symptoms of dementia.
These new findings could lead to new treatments for dementia. If doctors can find ways to calm down the overactive immune response in astrocytes, they might be able to help people with dementia think more clearly and remember better.
Some of the drugs that affect these immune pathways are already being tested for other illnesses and might one day be used to treat dementia.
While researchers continue their work, there are things we can all do to keep our brains healthy as we age. Regular physical activity is one of the best ways to protect the brain. It increases blood flow and helps grow new brain cells.
Eating a healthy diet—especially one like the Mediterranean diet—can also support brain health. Staying mentally active through reading or learning new things, keeping strong social ties, getting enough sleep, managing stress, and taking care of health issues like diabetes or high blood pressure are all important ways to protect your brain.
This new study shows us that dementia may not be only about neurons. Astrocytes could be a key piece of the puzzle. And with more research, we may be able to find better ways to treat or even prevent this condition.
If you care about dementia, please read studies that eating apples and tea could keep dementia at bay, and Olive oil: a daily dose for better brain health.
For more health information, please see recent studies what you eat together may affect your dementia risk, and time-restricted eating: a simple way to fight aging and cancer.
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