Damaged neurons were thought to be beyond repair. A University of Tokyo team led by Noboru Mizushima just challenged that in mice: switch the cell's cleanup system, autophagy, back on, and the protein junk clears, motor skills and memory return. A new angle on neurodegeneration from a disciple of Nobel laureate Yoshinori Ohsumi.
PETOKOTO and three partner organizations launched the Pet Guardianship Lab to tackle Japan's emerging 'pet refugee' crisis. As single households hit 40% and the population ages rapidly, a uniquely Japanese law-insurance-NGO consortium is building a safety net for pets whose owners die, are hospitalized, or develop dementia.
A Tohoku University-UC Irvine team led by Prof. Kei Igarashi has discovered that dopamine in the entorhinal cortex drops to less than one-fifth of normal levels in Alzheimer's mice, driving memory loss. Published in Nature Neuroscience, the finding suggests Levodopa—a Parkinson's drug used for over half a century—could restore memory in Alzheimer's, opening a new path beyond the amyloid-beta hypothesis behind drugs like lecanemab.