A nanogel turns support cells into neurons in Alzheimer's mice

A team led by Peisheng Xu, professor of pharmaceutics at the University of South Carolina, published a polymer nanogel system called Nano-ERASER in Cell Biomaterials on 26 August 2026. The particle crosses the blood-brain barrier, enters astrocytes, and degrades PTBP1, a protein that holds those cells in their supporting role. Removing it lets the astrocyte become a functioning neuron.

The mechanism matters because it edits no DNA. Most attempts to replace lost neurons either transplant cells or rewrite the genome; this one suppresses a single protein and lets the brain’s own support cells convert. Astrocytes are abundant, which is the appeal: the tissue already contains the raw material.

In mice modelling Alzheimer’s disease, treated animals showed higher neuron density along with reduced amyloid-beta accumulation and less neuroinflammation. Behaviour tracked the biology. The mice recovered nest-building and completed water mazes more efficiently, with changes visible after a single injection and greater gains after a second, the protocol the paper reports.

The work is preclinical. No human has received Nano-ERASER, the group names nonhuman primates as the next step, and PTBP1 suppression as a route to new neurons has been contested in the literature, with several laboratories disputing how much of the reported conversion is genuine reprogramming rather than mislabelled pre-existing neurons.