Manipulating immune responses may help patients with Alzheimer’s disease recover from neurodegenerative damage, researchers in Germany say.
The study, which focused on the regenerative properties of zebrafish, was conducted by scientists at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases. According to the authors, an examination of zebrafish may provide clues for how to develop drugs to reverse the neuronal damage associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Their findings were published in the journal Cell Reports.
While investigators concede humans and zebrafish have obvious biological differences, the two species share important similarities.
“The regenerative skills apparent in zebrafish might lie dormant in humans and might somehow be activated by pulling the right strings,” lead researcher Caghan Kizil said in a press release. “This is why we study if and how zebrafish cope with neurodegeneration. We want to understand the basic molecular mechanisms of such a regenerative aptitude in order to design better clinical therapies.”