“Just Your Average Alien Abduction”

Artist: Vaishnavi Ravinder
NeurGrad Collaborator: Hayley Shanks

Abstract

Far above, in the night sky, a spaceship approaches. There are already others over the meadow, picking up anything living that they can find. Though this one looks different. The beams are not as strong. As they land on me, I feel a force trying to lift me up. My coat rises a little, yet I remain on the grass. The ship doesn’t give up, and I try to help it along, but something darkens inside it. How odd. Progressive, uncontrollable memory loss is scary. It seems like a work of science fiction, yet this is the reality for individuals suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). AD is a common neurodegenerative disorder in which certain cells in the brain degenerate before others. A major question for scientists is: when, where and how does the brain start deteriorating in AD? Research has shown that the basal forebrain is one of the first brain areas affected by AD. The basal forebrain is of particular interest because it is required for normal attention and memory, and AD degeneration in this region leads to cognitive impairment. A recent study by Shanks et al. identified that blood levels of the lipid phosphatidylcholine predict degeneration of the basal forebrain in AD. By furthering the understanding of the development of basal forebrain degeneration in AD, there is a sense of hope that there may be a solution to this problem. With a bit of humour, Just Your Average Alien Abduction conveys the uptake of phosphatidylcholine to the basal forebrain and in turn in the progression of AD.