{"id":234925,"date":"2026-04-10T07:15:56","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T12:15:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/04\/alzheimers-risk-gene-alters-brain-activity-early-but-it-may-be-reversible"},"modified":"2026-04-10T07:15:56","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T12:15:56","slug":"alzheimers-risk-gene-alters-brain-activity-early-but-it-may-be-reversible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/04\/alzheimers-risk-gene-alters-brain-activity-early-but-it-may-be-reversible","title":{"rendered":"Alzheimer\u2019s Risk Gene Alters Brain Activity Early \u2014 But It May Be Reversible"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/alzheimers-risk-gene-alters-brain-activity-early-but-it-may-be-reversible.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Carrying one or two copies of the <em>APOE4<\/em> gene variant significantly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/alzheimers-gene-doesnt-guarantee-dementia-heres-what-you-can-do-to-reduce-risk\">increases the risk<\/a> of developing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/go\/IaO\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_self\">Alzheimer\u2019s<\/a>, and a new study reveals how <em>APOE4<\/em> can change neuron activity \u2013 potentially <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/blood-test-clock-can-predict-alzheimers-symptoms-before-they-emerge\">many years before symptoms<\/a> such as memory loss start showing.<\/p>\n<p>In young mice bred to have the <em>APOE4<\/em> gene, researchers found specific neurons were smaller and more hyperactive in parts of the brain\u2019s memory center, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/researchers-discover-a-new-role-for-the-hippocampus-that-focuses-the-senses\">the hippocampus<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s more, they were able to identify a protein, Nell2, contributing to the disruption \u2013 and a potential pathway to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencealert.com\/new-alzheimers-treatment-strategy-reverses-cognitive-decline-in-mice\">reverse the damage<\/a> in advanced cases.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Carrying one or two copies of the APOE4 gene variant significantly increases the risk of developing Alzheimer\u2019s, and a new study reveals how APOE4 can change neuron activity \u2013 potentially many years before symptoms such as memory loss start showing. In young mice bred to have the APOE4 gene, researchers found specific neurons were smaller [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":396,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-234925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biotech-medical","category-neuroscience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/396"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234925\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}