Medical Xpress July 30, 2024
Healthy blood vessels matter for more than just heart health. Vascular well-being is critical for brain health and potentially in addressing age-related cognitive decline and neurodegenerative disorders, like Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study led by Penn State researchers. The findings point to an understudied but possible key role the brain’s vascular network—or energy infrastructure—plays in the onset of neurodegenerative disease.
The study is published in the journal Nature Communications.
Using advanced imaging techniques, the team developed maps of a mouse brain that illustrate how vascular cells and structures like blood vessels change with age and identified areas that are vulnerable to deterioration. When blood vessels degrade, nerve cells in the brain, called neurons, are starved of energy, causing...
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