Oxytocin against amyloid plaques
"Love hormone" may help in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease
Tatiana Matveeva, "Scientific Russia"
Scientists from Tokyo University of Science (Japan) have discovered that the hormone oxytocin, which causes a feeling of love and well-being, is able to restore the activity of neurons damaged due to the accumulation of beta-amyloid protein (Aß). This will help in the treatment of cognitive disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease, the press service of the university reports. The scientists reported their discovery in the journal Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communication (Takahashi et al., Oxytocin reverses Aß-induced impairment of hippocampal synaptic plasticity in mice).
Alzheimer's disease is a progressive disease in which nerve cells (neurons) in the human brain and the connections between them are slowly destroyed, which leads to serious memory loss, deterioration of motor skills and communication. One of the main causes of Alzheimer's disease is that the Aß protein accumulates around neurons in the brain. So it interferes with the activity of nerve cells and causes their degeneration.
Studies on animal models of the disease have shown that the more Aß protein accumulates in the hippocampus – the main center of learning and memory of the brain – the worse the communication between neurons in this part of the brain is transmitted. This degeneration affects the synaptic plasticity of neurons, that is, the ability of synapses (the site of signal exchange between neurons) to adapt to an increase or decrease in signal transmission activity over time. Synaptic plasticity plays a huge role in the development of learning and cognitive functions. That is why scientists in search of new treatments for Alzheimer's disease often focused on the Aß protein.
How does this relate to the "love hormone"? Oxytocin plays an important role in the reproductive system of women, and also causes a feeling of love and well-being. Japanese scientists have discovered another function of the hormone: the effect on cognitive impairment caused by the accumulation of the protein amyloid β.
In the laboratory, researchers found that with additional production of oxytocin, the signaling abilities of nerve cells increase. This allowed them to suggest that oxytocin could reverse the disruption of synaptic plasticity that causes Aß.
To find out why this happens, scientists conducted another series of experiments. In the brain of a healthy person, oxytocin binds to special structures in the membranes of brain cells (oxytocin receptors). Scientists artificially "blocked" these receptors in mouse hippocampal slices to see if oxytocin could reverse the Aß-induced disruption of synaptic plasticity. It was expected that when the receptors were blocked, oxytocin could not reverse the action of Aß. From this it followed that the receptors are necessary for the action of oxytocin.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru