Beta-amyloid proven as an etiologic role in Alzheimer's ?
According to a recent article in Journal of NeuroScience (J Neurosci. 2001;21(RC 120):1-5) , the characteristic plaques seen in the brains of Alzheimer's patients may not be the result of the disease but a cause.
According to the authors, their work establishes for the first time this functional link between the plaques seen at autopsy and the failure in brain functioning.These researches are from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), a division of the National Institutes of Health.
The NIEHS scientists said they had demonstrated in rat brain that the major protein of these plaques ( beta-amyloid peptide ) binds to a receptor in the brain, thus blocking the signals that are thought to be involved in learning and memory.
Jerrel L. Yakel, PhD, the lead investigator of the study, said that their work could lead to better drug therapies.. "Knowing how the disease process works," Dr. Yakel said, "makes it more likely that medical science can find ways to slow, halt or reverse the process."
The researchers showed that the beta-amyloid peptide blocks the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, in the hippocampus.
It is probably good to know that the beta-amyloid is most likely the culprit, but I am afraid that by the time something is found to prevent its accumulation it will be too late for me.<g>
Bernard. |
