(EXAMPLE POST) Brain Cell Bathing is Key to Preventing Alzheimer’s Disease
Alzheimer’s is a debilitating disease that researchers have
been studying in attempts to both understand possible causes and to generate
possible treatments. A newly published study from an international team of
researchers uncovered information that has potentially illuminated one of the
causes, while simultaneously providing a promising treatment, for Alzheimer’s
disease. According to these scientists, the brain has a natural cleaning
process that aids in preventing an accumulation (i.e., mitophagy) of defective
mitochondria in brain cells. If the mitophagy is insufficient to combat the
accumulation of potentially harmful and defective mitochondria, Alzheimer’s
symptoms can be present in the brain. This poorly functioning cleaning
system—with accompanying Alzheimer’s symptoms—has been observed in both humans
and animals. Although researchers have not yet tested a cleaning process for
these damaged mitochondria in living humans, they have implemented effective
cleaning processes in deceased humans and living animals. These researchers
have shown that increasing mitophagy can slow the development of proteins tau
and beta amyloid (correlates of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia) in non-human
animals. This appears to be a promising line of future treatment for
neurodegenerative disorders.
In the Brain Rules
book covered in class, Dr. John Medina discusses the role of the waste removal
system for maintaining cognitive functioning. He emphasizes the importance of
getting adequate sleep each night to maximize the effectiveness of this
plaque-clearing system. He does not, however, discuss the mechanisms by which
the cleaning system works. It seems possible that getting extra sleep could aid
in the mitophagy process that is useful for preventing the development of
dementia-like symptoms. The importance of finding effective treatments for
disorders marked by cognitive decline was covered in my Psychology of Aging
course; we learned that neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease
have been increasing in prevalence and account for $400 billion in medical
costs each year in the U.S. alone. We also learned of the physical and
emotional tolls that these disorders have on caretakers for those who suffer
from these disorders. The combination of medically-assisted increases in
mitophagy and improved sleep hygiene could potentially lead to great benefits
to the U.S. economy as well as decreases in the burden of family-caretaking.
The accumulation of plaques in the brain and the problems with defective mitochondria might also be related to inflammation in the body. In class, we learned that inflammation in the gut can lead to inflammation in the brain. Recent research has also shown that individuals who experience increases in inflammation during middle age tend to have accelerated aging effects in their cognitive performance (https://neurosciencenews.com/inflammation-aging-cognition-10737/ ). In contrast to acute inflammation (which can be a functionally healthy response), chronic inflammation is traditionally harmful to the body. A study with Johns Hopkins University researchers looked at a sample of over 12,000 middle-aged patients and followed them for two decades. The participants’ cognitive and memory scores were measured at multiple time points. The participants in the group with the highest inflammatory markers had an 8-12% steeper decline in measures of cognition and memory than the participants with the lowest inflammatory markers. Since neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s often are characterized by inflammation, it seems important for medical interventions to target sources of inflammation at earlier ages. The author stresses the importance of exercise, adequate sleep, and anti-inflammatory diets for managing chronic inflammation.
ReplyDeleteI found this article really interesting, but I did not know much about the psychology or the biology of Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. After looking at other websites, I found an article that explained the biology of Alzheimer’s in greater detail (http://www.brainfacts.org/diseases-and-disorders/neurodegenerative-disorders/2017/alzheimers-111017 ). Although natural aging leads to several types of cognitive decline, Alzheimer’s disease actually directly kills neurons in the brain. Over 100 years ago, a German doctor, Alois Alzheimer, was the first to observe—or at least document—the appearance of atypical clumps in the brains of some patients with severe cognitive deficits. Research later showed that there are two different types of clumps: (1) amyloid beta plaques that form between cells, and (2) a type of protein, tau, that leads to tangles within the neurons. It appears, however, that it’s not just the number or size of these plaques that leads to the severity of Alzheimer’s symptoms. A group of researchers later found that there is another type of amyloid-beta molecule that is free floating and can get lodged in gaps between neurons where it is toxic to the synaptic connections. Although researchers and doctors still do not have clear treatments for Alzheimer’s, there are several promising leads looking at signals involved in synaptic health. The goal seems to now be focused more on prevention instead of treatment which is a hopeful outlook.
ReplyDeleteMy Cognitive Psychology course covered content related to neurodegenerative diseases and presented ways to assess how severely a person’s cognitive functions are affected by the disorder. One assessment that we covered was the Boston Naming Test. This test presents patients with a series of pictures that are increasingly less familiar and assesses how quickly and accurately patients are able to name them. The test works by summing the correct number of responses and the response time to each item. Considering that the original poster and the two commenters before me focused on ways to treat these disorders, I think that it would be useful to use the Boston Naming Test to track the progress of the patients as they partake in the treatments.
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