Alzheimer’s Disease

ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE

What is Alzheimer’s disease? Most people look at it like memory loss. While this is true, Alzheimer’s is also “a debilitating brain-wasting disease that affects the elderly. It causes short- and long-term memory loss, dementia, and eventually death. It is the fourth-leading cause of death in developed countries.” There has not been an exact link between any specific environmental risk and Alzheimer’s. Genetics and age have been the main determining factors of Alzheimer’s in the past and even thought to be an inevitable part of aging for years, until the last few years where they have linked Alzheimer’s to failed cell division.

A new study has suggested that Alzheimer’s disease could be caused by adult neurons trying to divide. “Nerve cells affected by Alzheimer’s and many other neurodegenerative diseases often start to divide before they die.” In the test subjects (mice) “this abnormal cell division starts long before amyloid plaques or other markers of the disease appear.” This effort to divide is believed to be the source of nerve degeneration and dementia in Alzheimer’s disease.

In a research study scientists observed that in mice with Alzheimer’s disease cell “cycle-related proteins appeared in neurons 6 months before the first amyloid plaques or disease-related immune reactions developed in the brain”. Also many of the neurons show an increased number of chromosomes,” which is typical of cells that have begun to divide”. These changes were not observed in normal mice. “The regions of the brain most affected by the neuronal cell cycling were the cortex and the hippocampus.” These regions are also affected in Alzheimer’s. “The cortex is important for thought and reasoning, while the hippocampus plays a key role in learning and memory. Some parts of the brainstem also showed evidence of cell cycling.”

This research has brought new attention to the theory that “the accumulation of amyloid beta in the brain causes the neuron death in...