Tangled path of Alzheimer's-linked brain cells mapped in mice
By studying laboratory mice, scientists have succeeded in plotting the labyrinthine paths of some of the largest nerve cells in the mammalian brain: cholinergic neurons, the first cells to degenerate in people with Alzheimer's disease. Cholinergic neurons are among the largest neurons in the mammal brain. Named for their release of a chemical messenger called acetylcholine, they number only in the thousands in mouse brains, a tiny fraction of the 50 to 100 million total neurons.
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