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Unraveling pathways responsible for neurodegeneration in Alzheimer disease (AD) is an especially high societal priority, with AD prevalence increasing as baby boomers age. To better understand these pathways, researchers used mouse models of AD to study the role of histone deacetylase (HDAC) in neurodegeneration and cognition. HDAC acts epigenetically by blocking histone acetylation, which is needed for gene expression. In addition, the researchers studied levels of HDAC in postmortem brain tissue from 19 AD patients.
The experiments focused on neurotransmission-related genes and their promoter regions (e.g., genes for brain-derived neurotrophic factor, glutamate receptors, and synaptophysin). Higher levels of HDAC2, in both genes and promot…