Scientists discover how brain cells die in Alzheimer’s in breakthrough studyBy Adriana Diaz
Published Sep. 15, 2023
A breakthrough in Alzheimer’s research has finally answered a question scientists have been asking for years.
Scientists have discovered how brain cells die when people develop Alzheimer’s, a study published in Science revealed.
“This is a very important and interesting finding,” researcher Bart De Strooper, from the UK Dementia Research Institute, told the BBC.
He continued, “For the first time, we get a clue to how and why neurons die in Alzheimer’s disease. There’s been a lot of speculation for 30-40 years, but nobody has been able to pinpoint the mechanisms.”
Researchers from Belgium and the UK transplanted human brain cells into the brains of genetically modified mice, who were programmed to produce large quantities of abnormal amyloid.
The research found that the disease progresses through necroptosis — a kind of cellular suicide.
People who suffer from Alzheimer’s lose brain cells and experience a build-up of abnormal proteins called amyloid and tau, which leads to the symptoms of the disease, including memory loss.
Amyloid is “a protein that is found in our brains and bodies, but in Alzheimer’s disease, amyloid sticks together and forms different sized clumps that later become plaques in the brain,” according to Alzheimers.org.
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Source:
https://nypost.com/2023/09/15/scientists-discover-how-brain-cells-die-in-alzheimers-study/
