Thursday, August 05, 2004
More Brains
NIMH researchers have found that a circuit, involving the orbitofrontal cortex, thalamus, anterior cingulate, and ventral striatum, is active in patients with depression even when they are not depressed. Very interesting, since it shows a substrate of susceptibility, which could not only lead to better (and perhaps even preventative?) diagnosis and therapy, but also further he search for pathenogenesis. Pretty cool, neh?
Other research has found that antibody targeting of amyloid-beta peptides, which make the plaques characteristic of Alzheimer’s, reduces the tangles of the disease, and may slow progression. Clinical trials of a related vaccine were halted due too encephalitis, so who knows where this might lead. But killing this disease would be great.
