Among the many ways neuroscientists think Alzheimer's disease may strip away brain function is by disrupting the glucose metabolism needed to fuel the healthy brain. In essence, declining metabolism robs the brain of energy, impairing thinking and memory. Against that backdrop, a team of neuroscientists at the Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience at Stanford's Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute have zeroed in on a critical regulator of brain metabolism known as the kynurenine pathway.
They hypothesize that that the kynurenine pathway is overactivated as a result of amyloid plaque and tau proteins that accumulate in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease. Now, with support from research and training grants from the Knight Initiative, they have shown that by blocking the kynurenine pathway in lab mice with Alzheimer's Disease, they can improve, or even restore, cognitive function by reinstating healthy brain metabolism. We were surprised that these metabolic improvements were so effective at not just preserving healthy synapses, but in actually rescuing behavior.
The mice performed better in cognitive and memory tests when we gave them drugs that block the kynurenine pathway." Katrin Andreasson, senior author, neurologist at the Stanford School of Medicine and member of the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute The study, which included collaborations with researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, Penn State University, and others, appeared August 22, 2024 in .