{"id":7431,"date":"2025-10-07T11:58:39","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T15:58:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/neuroscience\/?p=7431"},"modified":"2025-10-07T12:00:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T16:00:11","slug":"study-uncovers-brain-pathways-connected-to-alzheimers-memory-loss-and-mood-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/neuroscience\/study-uncovers-brain-pathways-connected-to-alzheimers-memory-loss-and-mood-changes\/","title":{"rendered":"Study Uncovers Brain Pathways Connected to Alzheimer\u2019s Memory Loss and Mood Changes"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new study published in Neuron, led by Juan Song, PhD, sheds light on how Alzheimer\u2019s disease affects the brain. The findings could lead to new forms of therapy.<\/p>\n

Alzheimer\u2019s disease not only robs people of their memory but also affects mood, often causing anxiety and depression. Until now, scientists haven\u2019t fully understood how these symptoms are connected in the brain.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The study, published in Neuron and led by UNC School of Medicine\u2019s Juan Song, PhD, focused on two distinct groups of brain cells in a region called the supramammillary nucleus (SuM) located in the posterior hypothalamus \u2013 a small region deep in the brain. One group helps regulate memory, while the other influences emotional responses. While examining Alzheimer\u2019s model mice, researchers discovered these two circuits do not function properly, but when the team used light-based stimulation to activate each pathway, they were able to restore memory or emotional function separately.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Original full article can be found here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new study published in Neuron, led by Juan Song, PhD, sheds light on how Alzheimer\u2019s disease affects the brain. The findings could lead to new forms of therapy. Alzheimer\u2019s disease not only robs people of their memory but also affects mood, often causing anxiety and depression. Until now, scientists haven\u2019t fully understood how these … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7858,"featured_media":7051,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","odd"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nStudy Uncovers Brain Pathways Connected to Alzheimer\u2019s Memory Loss and Mood Changes | UNC Neuroscience Center<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/neuroscience\/study-uncovers-brain-pathways-connected-to-alzheimers-memory-loss-and-mood-changes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Study Uncovers Brain Pathways Connected to Alzheimer\u2019s Memory Loss and Mood Changes | UNC Neuroscience Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A new study published in Neuron, led by Juan Song, PhD, sheds light on how Alzheimer\u2019s disease affects the brain. The findings could lead to new forms of therapy. Alzheimer\u2019s disease not only robs people of their memory but also affects mood, often causing anxiety and depression. Until now, scientists haven\u2019t fully understood how these … Read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/neuroscience\/study-uncovers-brain-pathways-connected-to-alzheimers-memory-loss-and-mood-changes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UNC Neuroscience Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-07T15:58:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-07T16:00:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/neuroscience\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/782\/2023\/08\/Juan-Song_2023.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sue Modlin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@uncneuro\" \/>\n<meta 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