Why, when a person has Alzheimer’s, does the brain suffer from an accumulation of beta-amyloid? How does this toxic protein manage to develop and gradually invade the patient’s brain? Another question that continued to remain unanswered: where does it come from and how does it move? Although Alzheimer’s disease continues to be the subject of research, its causes and its development remain large gray areas. In a recent study published in the journal PLOS BiologyAmerican researchers believe they have understood the course of the main cause of the disease.
After testing in mice, the scientists came up with a hypothesis, which is to say that the toxic proteins come from the blood supply to the brain. Because this protein found in excess in the brain of patients is not only found there, it is also visible in the blood. In other words, they found thatat a given moment, the amyloid escaped from the blood, passed the barrier of the vessels at the level of the brain, to come and accumulate on the neurons.
Lipoproteins responsible
According to the researchers, the toxic proteins come from fatty elements of the liver, transported by the blood. They are called lipoproteins. In their study, mice that produced lipoproteins in the liver began to exhibit the same type of cognitive decline as Alzheimer’s patients, leading to premature death, the study explains.
This discovery could offer another avenue of treatment, by attempting to lower the level of amyloid lipoproteins in the blood, to limit its colonization of the brain, via a drug. Another option put forward by the researchers, a particular diet to reduce its presence in the blood. After other tests, these two types of therapies made it possible to see lowering the rate of lipoproteins of the blood of the mice. That said, scientists point out that this approach might not be sufficient on its own and would need to be combined with other types of therapies to see a decrease in cognitive decline linked to Alzheimer’s.
Source : Amyloid beta emerges from below the neck to disable the brain, PLOS BiologySeptember 15, 2021.
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