worldwide alzheimer's is one of the most common forms of dementia it is a progressive form of
dementia that starts with mild memory loss as the disease progresses communication skills and the
ability to manage daily life are lost alzheimer's affects the areas of the brain that control
memory thought and language in 2020 an estimated 5.8 million americans were living with alzheimer's
disease by 2060 this number is expected to triple to 14 million according to the cdc symptoms of the
disease develop around the age 60 the number of people with alzheimer's doubles every five years
thereafter by age 85 almost a third of americans have symptoms consistent with alzheimer's disease
including my grandma who recently passed scientists have worked hard to understand
why alzheimer's develops in some people but not in others understanding why and how it develops
is the first step to learning how to treat and prevent it risk factors for developing
alzheimer's include advancing age having a genetic predisposition having other medical conditions
exposure to harmful environmental factors and making unhealthy lifestyle choices researchers
in australia may have had a breakthrough discovery in understanding how alzheimer's disease develops
they used mouse models to investigate how amyloid beta damages the blood-brain barrier the
blood-brain barrier is a multi-layered structure that separates the brain from the bloodstream
it's how the brain protects itself researchers found that breaks in the blood-brain barrier
caused by potentially toxic fat protein meaning amyloid beta complexes
allowed them to enter the brain causing inflammation and damage to brain cells or neurons
you could think of the blood-brain barrier as a filter it filters or controls which
molecules can pass from the bloodstream into the brain it keeps harmful substances
and infections from entering the brain while allowing nutrients oxygen and water
to enter it it also allows cellular waste to pass from the brain into the bloodstream
amyloid beta protein buildup in the brain is thought to cause alzheimer's disease
long before any symptoms of alzheimer's develop microscopic amyloid plaques build up in the brain
sometime later tangles of the tau protein develop over decades these plaques and tangles start to
accumulate and in some people they interfere with the normal electrical conduction of the brain
though everyone has amyloid plaques a genetic predisposition and exposure to
environmental factors determine whether alzheimer's disease ultimately develops
there's new research that provides clues about how proteins that are produced in the liver affect
the brain researchers from curtin university in australia published a study in plos biology the
study showed that amyloid beta was produced by the liver in combined with the fats in the bloodstream
these protein fat complexes travel to the brain and damage capillaries that make up part of the
blood-brain barrier the level of beta-amyloid in the blood has been correlated to the severity of
alzheimer's symptoms blood tests are used to support a diagnosis of early onset alzheimer's
yet it has been difficult to distinguish amyloid produced in the brain from that
produced elsewhere in the body researchers used mouse models to compare a control group of mice
to ones that were genetically engineered to produce human beta amyloid in their liver cells
the mice underwent cognitive testing those in the experimental group showed signs of
cognitive decline earlier for those in the control group so dr john mammo he's the director of the
curtin health innovation research institute in perth australia he led the study over 90 of beta
amyloid in the bloodstream is transported from the liver to the brain by fats called lipoproteins
researchers examined samples from both the mice and brains and livers the mice brains showed brain
cell degeneration loss of cells inflammation and damage to capillaries markers that track
nerve cell degeneration were twice as high in the experimental group compared to the control group
further research is still needed though and it's important to keep in mind that this
was an artificial model that may have supported the hypothesis that researchers were evaluating
so what about looking forward understanding how amyloid beta gets into the brain opens the door
for new potential treatment options researchers can explore options to manage beta amyloid levels
in the blood they might also investigate how to keep beta amyloid from damaging the blood-brain
barrier this particular research is exciting because it suggests that managing lifestyle
factors like the amount of fat in our diets can affect our risk of developing alzheimer's disease
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