Guanfacine, a non-stimulant ADHD medication, reduced hyperactivity in autistic children in a placebo-controlled trial. A 2026 review argues it may also steady prefrontal brain signaling and calm the brain’s immune cells, but that immune effect has never been tested with guanfacine itself.1 Research Highlights Hyperactivity fell in the largest autism trial: in 62 autistic children, …
A 2026 PLOS One computational study linked Trichostatin A to 949 predicted targets and 8 machine-learning-selected Alzheimer’s disease core genes, but 100 ns molecular dynamics simulations suggested the compound did not stably bind those candidate proteins.1 That makes the result more useful as an epigenetic network hypothesis than as evidence for a near-term Alzheimer’s drug. …
A 2026 mouse study found that complete IL-6 deficiency worsened motor dysfunction and dopaminergic injury in MPTP and alpha-synuclein A53T Parkinson’s disease models, with earlier and broader vulnerability in female knockout mice.1 The result cuts against a simple “less inflammation is always better” frame: recombinant IL-6 partly improved MPTP-induced motor dysfunction and striatal dopaminergic terminal …
A Cell Reports study tied C9orf72-related ALS/FTD inflammation to a gut-bacterial product: inflammatory microbial glycogen appeared in 15 of 22 ALS fecal samples, 1 of 1 C9orf72-frontotemporal dementia sample, and 4 of 12 healthy controls.1 The result supports a narrower gene-by-microbial-product mechanism that makes C9orf72 loss of function more inflammatory. Research Highlights Human samples carried …
In APP/PS1 Alzheimer's model mice, deleting PTP1B or treating with the allosteric inhibitor DPM-1003 improved memory behavior, lowered amyloid burden, and pushed microglia toward SYK-driven clearance — a plausible mechanism, not a human treatment result yet.1 Research Highlights PTP1B loss improved behavior in APP/PS1 mice. Genetic deletion and DPM-1003 treatment improved novel object recognition and …
A 2026 mechanistic review linked microplastics to 6 proposed Alzheimer’s disease pathways and 6 proposed Parkinson’s disease pathways.1 The calibrated interpretation is that microplastics are biologically plausible brain stressors, but the human evidence does not yet prove that they cause Parkinson’s disease or Alzheimer’s disease. Research Highlights Exposure is widespread: the review cited an estimate …
A 2026 mouse study found that Theiler’s murine encephalomyelitis virus (TMEV) injected into the substantia nigra produced persistent Parkinson’s-like motor signals through 20 weeks, including apomorphine-induced rotations at every measured post-injection timepoint.1 The finding makes TMEV a useful viral-neuroinflammation model of dopamine-neuron injury, but it does not show that Theiler’s virus causes human Parkinson’s disease. …