Post by Wes Gear on Aug 23, 2012 18:50:23 GMT 10
Scientists' discovery fuels Alzheimer's treatment hope
Scientists say they are a step closer to a creating a treatment for Alzheimer's disease with new research finding a link to abnormalities inside brain cells.
In a joint study with the Harvard Medical School, researchers at the Queensland Brain Institute found that when a toxic protein builds up, it starves brain cells of energy, causing them to die.
About 1600 new cases of dementia are diagnosed in Australia every week adding to the 280,000 people already suffering from the illness.
The researchers have spent three years trying to unlock the mystery surrounding Alzheimer's disease, the most common type of dementia.
They have been studying a section of the brain cell called the mitochondria, the part responsible for metabolising energy.
Professor Perry Bartlett from the Queensland Brain Institute describes it as the cell's engine room.
"The bigger these mitochondria are, the harder it is for them to move up and down these long processes of nerve cells," he said.
"Nerve cells have processes up to a metre long, they go from your brain all the way down.
"So in order for them to be able to transport these mitochondria to the place where the actions happening in the nerve, if they're too big, they won't move."
Promising development
Scientists already know the brains of dementia patients are cluttered with tangles and clumps of two proteins, called Beta Amalloyd and Tau.
But Professor Bartlett says this is the first study to directly link toxic levels of Tau to abnormalities in the mitochondria which starves them of energy and destroys brain cells.
"If they engineer these changed genes into fruit fly or a mouse they find these tangles but they also found these big mitochondria, so then they ask, well is it the size of the mitochondria that's important?" he said.
"And as it turns out yes it is, because if you reduce the size of the mitochondria, that neuropathology, that toxicity goes away."
The director of Queensland's Centre for Ageing Dementia Research, Jurgen Gotz, says scientists have been able to successfully treat abnormal mitochondria in fruit flies and mice.
"By changing their size back to normal it's possible to restore their function and also to prevent the new ones dying," he said.
"I mean you don't want to have mitochondria that are too long and you don't want to have mitochondria which are too small, you want to keep things balanced."
Researchers say the latest research is a promising step towards developing an effective treatment for sufferers, like Kate Swaser, who was diagnosed at the age of 49.
"What most people don't realise is dementia is a terminal illness, so you have to get your head around that fact," she said.
"Even though I had worked as a nurse in my first career, and had worked in a dedicated dementia unit, I hadn't even thought about somebody young like me getting it."
au.news.yahoo.com/latest/a/-/latest/14639173/scientists-discovery-fuels-alzheimers-treatment-hope/
Scientists say they are a step closer to a creating a treatment for Alzheimer's disease with new research finding a link to abnormalities inside brain cells.
In a joint study with the Harvard Medical School, researchers at the Queensland Brain Institute found that when a toxic protein builds up, it starves brain cells of energy, causing them to die.
About 1600 new cases of dementia are diagnosed in Australia every week adding to the 280,000 people already suffering from the illness.
The researchers have spent three years trying to unlock the mystery surrounding Alzheimer's disease, the most common type of dementia.
They have been studying a section of the brain cell called the mitochondria, the part responsible for metabolising energy.
Professor Perry Bartlett from the Queensland Brain Institute describes it as the cell's engine room.
"The bigger these mitochondria are, the harder it is for them to move up and down these long processes of nerve cells," he said.
"Nerve cells have processes up to a metre long, they go from your brain all the way down.
"So in order for them to be able to transport these mitochondria to the place where the actions happening in the nerve, if they're too big, they won't move."
Promising development
Scientists already know the brains of dementia patients are cluttered with tangles and clumps of two proteins, called Beta Amalloyd and Tau.
But Professor Bartlett says this is the first study to directly link toxic levels of Tau to abnormalities in the mitochondria which starves them of energy and destroys brain cells.
"If they engineer these changed genes into fruit fly or a mouse they find these tangles but they also found these big mitochondria, so then they ask, well is it the size of the mitochondria that's important?" he said.
"And as it turns out yes it is, because if you reduce the size of the mitochondria, that neuropathology, that toxicity goes away."
The director of Queensland's Centre for Ageing Dementia Research, Jurgen Gotz, says scientists have been able to successfully treat abnormal mitochondria in fruit flies and mice.
"By changing their size back to normal it's possible to restore their function and also to prevent the new ones dying," he said.
"I mean you don't want to have mitochondria that are too long and you don't want to have mitochondria which are too small, you want to keep things balanced."
Researchers say the latest research is a promising step towards developing an effective treatment for sufferers, like Kate Swaser, who was diagnosed at the age of 49.
"What most people don't realise is dementia is a terminal illness, so you have to get your head around that fact," she said.
"Even though I had worked as a nurse in my first career, and had worked in a dedicated dementia unit, I hadn't even thought about somebody young like me getting it."
au.news.yahoo.com/latest/a/-/latest/14639173/scientists-discovery-fuels-alzheimers-treatment-hope/
Happy New Years Everybody!!!
