A potential new way to treat reduced brain blood flow and certain forms of dementia is beginning to emerge. Scientists at the University of Vermont Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine have uncovered new details about how blood circulation in the brain is controlled and how vascular problems might be reversed. Their preclinical research, published December 22 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that replacing a missing phospholipid in the bloodstream could help restore normal brain blood flow and ease dementia-related symptoms.<\/p>\n
“This discovery is a huge step forward in our efforts to prevent dementia and neurovascular diseases,” says principal investigator Osama Harraz, Ph.D., assistant professor of pharmacology at Larner College of Medicine. “We are uncovering the complex mechanisms of these devastating conditions, and now we can begin to think about how to translate this biology into therapies.”<\/p>\n
The Rising Burden of Dementia<\/p>\n
Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias affect about 50 million people worldwide, and that number continues to grow. The increasing prevalence places heavy pressure on families, caregivers, and health care systems. Ongoing research is working to untangle how proteins, inflammation, neural signaling, and malfunctioning brain cells contribute to these disorders.<\/p>\n
Work in the Harraz lab centers on how cerebral blood flow is controlled and how blood vessels communicate through molecular signals. A major focus is Piezo1, a protein found in the membranes of cells that line blood vessels. Piezo1 helps regulate brain blood flow by sensing physical forces created as blood moves through the brain’s vascular network. Its name comes from the Greek word for “pressure.” Earlier research showed that Piezo1 behaves differently in people who carry certain genetic variations of the Piezo1 gene.<\/p>\n
A Key Lipid That Keeps Blood Vessels in Check<\/p>\n
The new study, titled “PIP2 Corrects an Endothelial Piezo1 Channelopathy,” offers fresh insight into how Piezo1 influences cerebral blood flow. The findings also show that conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease are linked to abnormally high Piezo1 activity in brain blood vessels. To better understand why this happens, the research team examined a phospholipid called\u00a0PIP2, which is found in brain cell membranes.<\/p>\n
PIP2\u00a0plays an essential role in cell signaling and ion channel regulation — a complex process that controls when protein pores in cells open and close. The researchers discovered that\u00a0PIP2\u00a0normally acts as a natural suppressor of Piezo1. When\u00a0PIP2\u00a0levels fall, Piezo1 becomes overly active, disrupting normal blood flow in the brain. When the team added\u00a0PIP2\u00a0back into the system, Piezo1 activity decreased and healthy blood circulation was restored. These results suggest that increasing\u00a0PIP2\u00a0levels could form the basis of a new treatment strategy aimed at improving brain blood flow and supporting brain function.<\/p>\n
Next Steps Toward Future Treatments<\/p>\n
Future studies will focus on understanding exactly how\u00a0PIP2\u00a0interacts with Piezo1. Researchers want to determine whether\u00a0PIP2\u00a0attaches directly to specific parts of the protein or changes the surrounding cell membrane in ways that limit channel opening. Additional work will also explore how disease-related declines in\u00a0PIP2\u00a0remove this regulatory control, allowing Piezo1 to remain overactive and impair cerebral blood flow. Gaining clarity on these mechanisms will be critical for developing therapies based on restoring\u00a0PIP2\u00a0or directly targeting Piezo1 to improve neurovascular health in dementia and related vascular disorders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A potential new way to treat reduced brain blood flow and certain forms of dementia is beginning to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201195,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[123496,134,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-201194","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-diseases-and-conditions-alzheimeramp039s-research-workplace-health-fertility-alzheimeramp039s-gender-difference-consumer-behavior-neuroscience","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}