Alzheimer's Disease is the most common form of dementia – a general decline in mental abilities, including memory, language, and logical thinking, that persists over time. A pathway in the brain, that lies between the septum and hippocampus and is critical to memory processes, has recently been associated with the development of this devastating disease. This septo-hippocampus axis is the major research focus of Sylvain Williams, PhD, a member of the Douglas Institute Research Centre since 1998.

Sylvain Williams and his team are pursuing several complimentary lines of study aimed towards elucidating the cause of Alzheimer Disease. For example, they are using a variety of state-of-the-art techniques such as electrophysiology, single-cell RT-PCR, and confocal microscopy in live brain slices, to better understand the physiological interactions of neurons within the septum and their relation with the hippocampus in health and disease.

Sylvain Williams and his team are also examining the role of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin-1 (IL-1) on the modulation of neuronal excitability, synaptic plasticity, and neuronal stem cell development. As well, they are characterizing the state of synaptic plasticity – how connections between neurons are modified in terms of long-term potentiation and/or depression in animal models of mental disorders.

Together, these research approaches promise to shed light on how memory processes can become disrupted ultimately giving rise to the development of Alzheimer Disease.