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A breakthrough in Alzheimer’s disease research is finally answering a question scientists have been asking for years.
Scientists have discovered how brain cells die when developing Alzheimer’s disease. Published in Science magazine revealed.
“This is a very important and interesting finding,” said researcher Bart de Strooper of the UK Dementia Research Institute. told the BBC.
He added: “For the first time, we have determined how and why neurons die in Alzheimer’s disease. There has been much speculation for 30 to 40 years, but no one has been able to pinpoint the mechanism. was.”
Researchers in Belgium and the UK transplanted human brain cells into the brains of genetically modified mice that were programmed to produce large amounts of abnormal amyloid.
Research has shown that the disease progresses through necroptosis, a type of cell suicide.
People suffering from Alzheimer’s disease lose brain cells and experience a buildup of abnormal proteins called amyloid and tau, which cause symptoms of the disease such as memory loss.
Amyloid is “a protein that exists in our brains and bodies, but in Alzheimer’s disease, amyloid sticks together to form clumps of various sizes that later become plaques in the brain.” According to the Alzheimer’s Association.
Tau is a protein that “forms insoluble filaments that accumulate as neurofibrillary tangles in Alzheimer’s disease and related tauopathies.” National Library of Medicine explains.
However, recent breakthroughs have left scientists unable to understand why this buildup occurs.
The research team now believes that abnormal amyloid begins to accumulate in the spaces between neurons, causing brain inflammation and resulting changes in internal chemistry.
As tau tangles accumulate, brain cells begin to produce the maternally expressed gene triad, which causes necroptosis.
Once researchers understood this development, they were able to help brain cells survive by blocking MEG3.
De Strooper noted that the discovery could lead to “an entirely new line of drug development.”
Experts say these discoveries are a big step forward, but it will likely be several years before they are translated into medical applications.
Tara Spiers-Jones, president of the British Society for Neuroscience and from the University of Edinburgh, told the BBC that the study “addresses one of the fundamental gaps in Alzheimer’s disease research”, adding: “These are interesting results. “And it will be important for this sector.” Move forward. ”
But she clarified that “many steps are needed” before this research can help patients diagnosed with advanced disease.
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