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Article: A NEW AD PLAYER PULLS UP TO THE TABLE HITHERTO IGNORED, ASTROCYTES ARE BRAIN CELLS THAT ATTACK A- BETA IN ALZHEIMER'S NEURONAL PLAQUES.
- Article from:
- BIOWORLD Today
- Article date:
- March 12, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 A Thomson Healthcare Company. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: David N. Leff , Science Editor
Your average adult lab mouse (Mus musculus) weighs in at 25 grams to 30 grams. Of that payload, the murine brain tips the scales at one gram. The brain of your average adult human comes in at 1,400 grams.
But don't poor-mouth a mouse's brain. It comes equipped with a cortex, a hippocampus and other cerebral accoutrements also found in humans. But not only are human brains far weightier and more complex, their wiring diagram is far more sophisticated.
Jens Husemann, research physiologist at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, explained: "Both species, human and mouse, make APP, the ...