Département de médecine moléculaire,
Université Laval –

Microglial relationships with synaptic elements in Alzheimer’s disease

A series of recent discoveries have challenged our view of microglia, the brain immune cells, showing unexpected roles in the active maintenance of neuronal circuits throughout the lifespan. Contributing to this nascent field of investigation, this project aims at exploring the relevance of these new roles in Alzheimer’s disease, the most common cause of dementia affecting over 35 million people worldwide.

State-of-the-art imaging of microglial interactions with neuronal circuits will be performed throughout disease progression and pharmacological treatment in a transgenic mouse model. This work will provide better understanding of the learning and memory deficits in Alzheimer’s disease, fundamental insights into the possible implication of microglia, and new data to help evaluate the brain’s response to a variety of therapeutic approaches.