Not every beta-amyloid is bad

The brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease contain a large number of plaques consisting of beta-amyloid protein, but until now, experts could not come to an unambiguous conclusion: whether amyloid plaques are the cause or a symptom of the disease.

Harvard University scientists have proven that Alzheimer's disease is caused by one of the forms of beta-amyloid.

As part of the experiment, they injected rats with various soluble and insoluble forms of beta-amyloid isolated from the brain tissue of people who donated their bodies to science. With the introduction of insoluble, as well as soluble one- and three-molecular forms of protein, no recorded effects were observed. However, the introduction of a two-molecular soluble beta-amyloid caused the development of symptoms characteristic of Alzheimer's disease in rats. The animals had memory disorders, especially the ability to remember new information. The study of brain tissue revealed a decrease in the density of brain cells by 47% and violations of synapses necessary for the functioning of nervous tissue.

This discovery explains the fairly common presence of amyloid plaques in the brains of people who do not suffer from dementia associated with Alzheimer's disease, which has so far confused many specialists.

The authors emphasize that there is still a lot of work to study the causes of the damaging effect of a certain form of beta-amyloid on brain tissue, but the results of the work provide new information about the mechanisms of the disease, which is one of the most important problems of modern society.

Portal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru based on Physorg materials 

24.06.2008