“Important results”
Alzheimer’s: New study tracks cell death
This is Alzheimer’s
This is Alzheimer’s
There is currently no cure for Alzheimer’s disease. However, the risk of becoming ill can be reduced.
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Why do brain cells die in Alzheimer’s? This has so far been a major research mystery – and a team now wants to have the answer.
Berlin. Anyone who cares for Alzheimer’s patients or witnesses the slow decline in their family knows: The Illness is one of the cruelest adversities a human being can face. And so far there is no prospect of success.
Medication can only Symptoms alleviate, healing is impossible; So far it is not even clear why nerve cells in the brain die in Alzheimer’s disease. Although research has made progress, no one has yet been able to look behind the cell death mechanism. Now a study wants to find out why Alzheimer’s causes cells to die.
Alzheimer’s leads to cell suicide
The Work published in the journal Science A team from Belgium and Great Britain found that human nerve cells – implanted into the brains of mice suffering from Alzheimer’s disease – produce large amounts of the Molecule MEG3 to produce. This molecule is also increasingly found in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.
The team assumes that the overproduction Cell death triggers. To put it simply, the molecule triggers a type of suicide in the cells. Basically, this is a natural function of the human body to get rid of unwanted cells and create fresh ones.
If the overproduction of the molecule was treated, they survived Neurons in the mouse brains. And this despite the fact that they were surrounded by the protein clumps typical of Alzheimer’s.
Alzheimer’s study delivers “important results”
“These are very important and exciting results,” Bart De Strooper from the UK Dementia Research Center told the BBC. For the first time there are clues as to why and how Neurons in Alzheimer’s patients die. Also read: Alzheimer’s dementia: New therapeutic approach gives hope
Experiments in culture dishes in which nerve cells with MEG3 mixed, confirmed the researchers’ assumptions. If the molecule was blocked, the cells survived. The discovery could “lead to completely new drugs,” said De Strooper. However, their development will probably require years of research. (pcl)