A concerted neuron-astrocyte program declines in ageing and schizophrenia. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38448582/)

These scientists wanted to understand how different parts of the brain work together in people of different ages and health conditions. They looked at the brains of 191 people who were between 22 and 97 years old, some were healthy and some had schizophrenia. They used a special technique called single-nucleus RNA sequencing to look at the genes in the brain cells.

What they found was that there is a special relationship between certain brain cells called neurons and astrocytes. Neurons are like messengers in the brain, and astrocytes help support and protect the neurons. They discovered that when certain genes in the neurons were more active, the genes in the astrocytes that help with building connections between neurons were also more active. They called this relationship the synaptic neuron and astrocyte program (SNAP).

They also found that in people with schizophrenia and as people age, the brain cells involved in SNAP were not working as well. This could be why people with these conditions have trouble with things like memory and learning. The scientists think that understanding SNAP could help us learn more about how our brains work and why some people have different abilities or problems.

Ling E., Nemesh J., Goldman M., Kamitaki N., Reed N., Handsaker RE., Genovese G., Vogelgsang JS., Gerges S., Kashin S., Ghosh S., Esposito JM., Morris K., Meyer D., Lutservitz A., Mullally CD., Wysoker A., Spina L., Neumann A., Hogan M., Ichihara K., Berretta S., McCarroll SA. A concerted neuron-astrocyte program declines in ageing and schizophrenia. Nature. 2024 Mar 6. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07109-5.