The team of Stéphanie Daumas and Salah El-Mestikawy¹ recently showed that the loss of cognitive capacity in patients with Alzheimer's disease is not due to synapses disappearing. These results are challenging one of Alzheimer's disease central dogmas, stating that this illness is a neurodegenerative disease, associated with a significant loss of neurons and synaptic connections. This work was published in Scientific Reports² in January 2018.

For more information, see the short note published on the Sorbonne Université website and the press release published by the CNRS.

1. Team Glutamatergic Transmission in normal and Pathological Conditions

2. Moderate decline in select synaptic markers in the prefrontal cortex (BA9) of patients with Alzheimer’s disease at various cognitive stage. Odile Poirel, et al. Scientific Reports, 17 janvier 2018. DOI:10.1038/s41598-018-19154-y