Scientists pinpoint cause of memory loss
Scientists pinpoint cause of memory loss
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Thursday, 16, Mar 2006 08:50
US scientists have uncovered a protein complex which they say causes Alzheimer's disease.
Researchers from the John Hopkins University School and the University of Minnesota led a study published in the Nature periodical today, which claims that a new kind of the amyloid-beta protein triggers memory loss.
It had been previously understood that plaques and tangles forming on the brain and killing off vital nerve cells were responsible for Alzheimer's.
Researchers were able to confound this theory by discovering that Alzheimer's begins before the accumulation occurs, thanks to a kind of the amyloid-beta protein existing before nerve cell deterioration – and thus plaque accumulation – takes place.
"Now that we have found a protein complex that causes cognitive decline and loss of memory, we will be able to aim our investigations not only to learning how that substance is implicated in disease, but also toward prevention," said Michela Gallagher, chair of the department of psychological and brain sciences at John Hopkins, who contributed to the research.
Canada and the US are currently in the middle of a five-year, $60 million programme to learn more about the disease, known as the Alzheimer's disease neuroimaging initiative (ADNI).
Some 4.5 million Americans are currently diagnosed with some form of Alzheimer's, compared to 400,000 in the UK, with the amount of sufferers expected to treble within the next 20 years.