Advance by UCLA scientists could shed light on cell that may contribute to ALS and Alzheimer ’s

An achievement by UCLA neuroscientists could lead to a better understanding of astrocytes, a type of cell in the brain that is thought to play a role in Lou Gehrig ’s disease, also called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS; Alzheimer’s disease; Huntington’s disease; and other neurological disorders.The researchers are the first to have bred mice in which an artificial gene called  Cre/ERT2, a basic tool for studying the functions of cells, can be activated exclusively in astrocytes. A paper describing their work waspublished online today in the journal  Neuron.Neuroscientists have been trying for years to engineer mice in which Cre/ERT2  or other artificial genes can be activated just in astrocytes without significant “leakage” into other cell types.“We’ll now be able to delete or mutate astrocyte genes that are suspected of contributing to diseases such as ALS to see whether they really do contribute,” said Baljit Khakh, professor of physiology and neurobiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. “That, in turn, could open up many new strategies for treating those diseases.”To give the mice the Cre/ERT2  gene, Khakh and colleagues inserted it into another gene, Aldh1-l1. Aldh1-I1 had been found in a previous study to only be active in adult astrocytes. Cre/ERT2  normally can be activated in mice by giving them a drug called tamoxifen, which is best known as a breast cancer treatment. The UCLA researchers, however, built the combinati...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news