Researchers found that high levels of the enzyme are linked to low levels of inflammation in the brains of aged mice. They also showed that the enzyme boosts the growth of neurons in ageing brains. The findings were reported on 15 October in Nature Neuroscience. 'This is a fantastic, very thoughtful approach to get at what could be protecting neurons,' says Timothy Hohman, a neuroscientist and geneticist at the Vanderbilt Memory & Alzheimer's Center in Nashville, Tennessee, who was not involved in the study. 'This is a great example of how you can use a model system to get at some of these resilience mechanisms that are super challenging to study in humans.' The enzyme in question is a phospholipase, which breaks down fatty compounds. The authors homed in on the enzyme after finding that the gene encoding it suddenly became more active when connections between some of the neurons in the brains of mice were disrupted. To learn more, the scientists genetically altered mice to lack the...
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