SchragLab

Outstanding data blitz for #VandyADDay by SchragLAB undergraduate researcher Elena Solopova! She used MRIs of post-mortem brain to evaluate the presence of LOX-positive astrocytes in white matter disease and CAA. @VUMCneurology #vumcneuro @VanderbiltAlz @VanderbiltBrain

I always pictured astrocytes as dainty little cells. Lissa’s pictures from human brain show many astrocytes are quite large. They span multiple blood vessels and link many neurons. Astrocytes in red (GFAP), vessels green, another protein we’re studying in purple. @AntunesLissa

Here's a dramatic picture of an artery that ruptured due to cerebral amyloid angiopathy; residual, fractured beta-amyloid shards are stained red. Credit: @AntunesLissa. @vumcneurology #vumcneuro @VanderbiltAlz @VanderbiltBrain @VUCellImaging

Want to see something cool? These are astrocytes interacting with small blood vessels in human grey matter from a patient with cerebral amyloid angiopathy. Images by @AntunesLissa, Zeiss lightsheet. @VUMCneurology @VanderbiltAlz #vumcneuro @VUCellImaging @zeiss_micro

Central retinal artery occlusion — in 1892. Courtesy of the library of an esteemed colleague who is retiring.

Something new from the lab today — @AntunesLissa took a picture of an arteriole in a human brain degenerating due to cerebral amyloid angiopathy. #vumcneuro @VUMCneurology @VandyPostdoc @VanderbiltAlz @VUCellImaging @anackenoff @CAAcure #endalz

Wilber took this beautiful image today of astrocytes from the white matter of the brain of a patient with Alzheimer’s disease. @VUMCneurology #vumcneuro @VanderbiltAlz @VanderbiltBrain @VUCellImaging

Something remarkable from the lab today — this is a small artery from the hippocampus of a human brain with cerebral amyloid angiopathy (amyloid in blue). What is special is that this is unfixed tissue, live-imaged more than three days post-mortem in an organotypic culture.

Data from the post-approval clinical trial for aducanumab required by the FDA probably won’t be available until 2030. More at SchragLAB.com

This treatment should probably not be given to patient’s with cerebral amyloid angiopathy.