Studies suggesting that certain viral infections may influence the onset of Alzheimer's diseases are gaining attention. In this context, a domestic research team has succeeded in breaking the link between viral infection and Alzheimer's disease using a new treatment candidate.

A small cluster of cells deep within our brains, called the locus coeruleus, affects how awake and attentive we are, how we respond to stress, how we cope with anxiety and fear, and how we create memories and learn.This blue spot is also involved in a range of neurological and neuropsychiatric conditions such as anxiety and depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and Alzheimer’s diseases. A new study in mice shows that a small group of cells next to the locus coeruleus, called peri-LC neurons, appear to play a key role in regulating and fine-tuning its information-processing.The findings help explain how we respond appropriately to different challenges, Besides advancing understanding of how our brains regulate arousal, attention and our reactions to distress, the findings open the possibility of new ways to treat neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders, including opioid drug withdrawal symptoms. 

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (May 14, 2025)—Neuroscience technology innovator Cognivue^®, today announced a scientific breakthrough with the launch of the Cognivue Amyloid Risk Measure (CARM)*, a novel metric that predicts the likelihood of the presence of amyloid—a key biomarker of Alzheimer’s disease (AD).¹ Now available as an optional feature on the Cognivue Clarity^® device (based on FDA-cleared technology), CARM represents a significant advancement in the early detection of Alzheimer’s by helping healthcare providers identify those at risk of cognitive impairment, even before symptoms emerge.

A study published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry presents a new family of candidate compounds for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and pain, which have shown promising effects in animal models. Researchers of the University of Barcelona led a multidisciplinary team that designed, synthetized and pharmacologically validated these molecules that modulate a therapeutic target which has been little studied, the imidazoline I2 receptors, which are altered in many diseases without efficient pharmacological treatments. According to the researchers, the new compound has the “necessary characteristics to progress in pre-clinical phases and to be positioned as a potential anti-Alzheimer’s drug or analgesic with a novel mechanism of action”.

In many neurodegenerative diseases, proteins misfold and clump together in brain tissue. Scientists developed a new therapy made of peptides and a sugar that naturally occurs in plants. The therapeutic molecules self-assemble into nanofibers, which bond to the neuron-killing proteins. Now trapped, the toxic proteins can no longer enter neurons and instead harmlessly degrade.