As the brains of mice given a human APP gene age, they lose synapses and develop plaques that closely resemble the pathological A-Beta plaques found in the brains of human AD patients at autopsy. One such plaque is shown in yellow here. The smaller red and green objects represents presynaptic (synapsin I) and postsynaptic (PSD-95) components of remaining synapses. The depletion of synapses evident within and near the A-Beta plaque could account for the cognitive dysfunction in AD. This image was acquired using Array Tomography, a powerful new 3D imaging method developed recently at Stanford University. (collaboration with B. Hyman lab, Harvard). |
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