How Does Alzheimer's Progress Throughout The Brain
Study Shows Alzheimer’s Dementia Progression May Spread past times ‘Jumping’ from One Brain Region to Another
For decades, researchers accept debated whether Alzheimer’s illness starts independently inwards vulnerable encephalon regions at dissimilar times, or if it begins inwards 1 percentage too and thence spreads to neuroanatomically connected areas.
This question was conducted past times Pb researcher Karen E. Duff, PhD, professor of pathology (in psychiatry too inwards the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s Disease too the Aging Brain) at CUMC too at the New York State Psychiatric Institute.
Listen to Karen Duff discusses the findings inwards this NPR Interview on How Alzheimer's Spreads Throughout the Brain.
Study Shows Alzheimer’s Disease May Spread past times ‘Jumping’ from One Brain Region to Another
Findings opened upwards novel opportunities for studying Alzheimer’s too testing potential therapies
Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 written report past times Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) researchers strongly supports the latter, demonstrating that abnormal tau protein, a telephone substitution characteristic of the neurofibrillary tangles seen inwards the brains of those alongside Alzheimer’s, propagates along linked encephalon circuits, “jumping” from neuron to neuron.
The findings, published inwards the online mag PloS One, opened upwards novel opportunities for gaining a greater agreement of Alzheimer’s illness too other neurological diseases too for developing therapies to halt its progression, according to senior writer Karen E. Duff, PhD, professor of pathology (in psychiatry too inwards the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s Disease too the Aging Brain) at CUMC too at the New York State Psychiatric Institute.
Alzheimer’s disease, the nearly mutual shape of dementia, is characterized past times the accumulation of plaques (composed of amyloid-beta protein) too fibrous tangles (composed of abnormal tau) inwards encephalon cells called neurons. Postmortem studies of human brains too neuroimaging studies accept suggested that the disease, peculiarly the neurofibrillary tangle pathology, begins inwards the entorhinal cortex, which plays a telephone substitution role inwards memory. Then every bit Alzheimer’s progresses, the illness appears inwards anatomically linked higher encephalon regions.
“Earlier research, including functional MRI studies inwards humans, accept too supported this blueprint of spread,” said written report coauthor Scott A. Small, MD, professor of neurology inwards the Sergievsky Center too inwards the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s Disease too the Aging Brain at CUMC. “But these diverse findings create non definitively present that Alzheimer’s spreads straight from 1 encephalon percentage to another.”
To hold off farther into this issue, the CUMC researchers developed a novel transgenic mouse inwards which the cistron for abnormal human tau is expressed predominantly inwards the entorhinal cortex. The brains of the mice were analyzed at dissimilar fourth dimension points over 22 months to map the spread of abnormal tau protein.
The researchers works life that every bit the mice aged, the abnormal human tau spread along a linked anatomical pathway, from the entorhinal cortex to the hippocampus to the neocortex. “This blueprint real much follows the staging that nosotros come across at the earliest stages of human Alzheimer’s disease,” said Dr. Duff.
The researchers too works life bear witness suggesting that the abnormal tau poly peptide was moving from neuron to neuron across synapses, the junctions that these cells utilization to communicate alongside each other.
The findings of the written report accept of import implications for therapy.
“If, every bit our information suggest, tau pathology starts inwards the entorhinal cortex too emanates from there, the nearly effective approach may hold upwards to process Alzheimer’s the means nosotros process cancer—through early on detection too treatment, earlier it has a adventure to spread,” said Dr. Small. “The best means to cure Alzheimer’s may hold upwards to position too process it when it is but beginning, to halt progression. It is during this early on stage that the illness volition hold upwards nearly amenable to treatment. That is the exciting clinical hope downward the road.”
Treatments could conceivably target tau during its extracellular phase, every bit it moves from jail cellular telephone to cell, added Dr. Duff. “If nosotros tin discovery the machinery past times which tau spreads from 1 jail cellular telephone to another, nosotros could potentially halt it from jumping across the synapses — maybe using roughly type of immunotherapy. This would forestall the illness from spreading to other regions of the brain, which is associated alongside to a greater extent than severe dementia.”
The newspaper is titled, “Trans-synaptic Spread of Tau Pathology inwards vivo.” Additional contributors are Li Liu (CUMC), the initiatory off author, Valerie Drouet (CUMC), Jessica W. Wu (CUMC), Menno P. Witter (Norwegian University of Science too Technology), too Catherine Clelland (CUMC).
This question was supported past times the National Institute of Neurological Disorders too Stroke, grant number R01NS074874 to KD, too past times the National Institute on Aging, grant number AG025161 to SAS.
The authors declare no fiscal or other conflicts of interest.
The Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s Disease too the Aging Brain at Columbia University Medical Center is a multidisciplinary grouping that has forged links betwixt researchers too clinicians to uncover the causes of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s too other age-related encephalon diseases too discovery ways to forestall too cure these diseases.
Also come across this interesting article inwards the New York Times, Path Is Found for the Spread of Alzheimer’s
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Original content Bob DeMarco, the