Stroke

Those who need to change their eating habits to normalise their blood pressure should start with a fast. In the journal “Nature Communications”, MDC and ECRC scientists explain why patients can use it as a tool to improve their health in the long term.

After more than 40 years, several teams at the MDC and ECRC have now made a breakthrough discovery with the help of two animal models: they have proven that an altered gene encoding the enzyme PDE3A causes an inherited form of high blood pressure. This could lead to new concepts for the treatment of hypertension.

Muscle pain and cramps are common side effects of statins. As an MDC and Charité research group now reports in Scientific Reports, the cholesterol reducers actually influence thousands of genes in muscle cells – thereby hindering cell growth and division.

Learning from naked mole-rats is key to Jane Reznick’s research into new therapies for heart disease and strokes. She has now been awarded an ERC Starting Grant, which will help her to start her own group and fund her work to the tune of €1.55 million over five years.

A research team led by Professor Thomas Jentsch at the FMP and MDC has now identified the molecular components of a previously unknown ion channel.

Microglia, the immune cells of the central nervous system, differ in male and female mice. MDC researchers report on the sex-specific features in Cell Reports. Their findings could change how we treat neurological diseases.