Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MECEDGE (Transgenic dissection of the neural circuitry of memory and dementia)
Reporting period: 2018-05-01 to 2020-04-30
As the most common form of age-related dementia, Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an enormous and growing problem for an aging society. AD is a neurodegenerative disorder like Parkinson's disease (PD), but the former presents as a cognitive disorder, and the latter as a motor disorder (at least in early stages). The reason for this is not so much what happens (ultimately cell death in both cases), but *where* it happens (respectively, the entorhinal cortex, or EC, or the substantia nigra). This project attempts to explore what is it about the EC that makes it particularly susceptible to the pathological processes underlying AD, with particular emphasis on the role of activity. To do this, we combine transgenic lines we have created which allow us to manipulate the activity of neurons in this region with transgenic models of AD, and record the effects on both activity and AD-like phenotypes.
Unfortunately, after the first four months of the project, the researcher had to return to the United States due to family reasons. Therefore, the project did not get past the initial stage of characterization of the transgenic models.
While the project unfortunately had to be terminated due to the reason stated above, the success of the initial characterization of the lines will enable others in the lab to continue the research program. This could lead to a greater understanding of the role of activity in the progression of AD, and thereby new potential therapeutic avenues.