35 replies to this topic

[chubtoad]

http://www.scienceda...40722091056.htm

Biology Is Not Always Destiny In Alzheimer's, Says New Twins Data

PHILADELPHIA, July 21, 2004 – When one twin develops Alzheimer's disease, the other does not always develop the disorder, a study of male twins who served in World War II shows. The study finds that identical twins, who share nearly identical genes, both develop Alzheimer's by their late 70s only about 40 percent of the time. In fraternal twins, who are no more genetically similar than other siblings, both twins develop Alzheimer's by their late 70s only about 20 percent of the time.

[chubtoad]

http://www.nature.co...l/040726-4.html

Lithium may fend off Alzheimer's disease
Manic depression therapy could prevent brain degeneration.





Tau filaments form tangles (dark red) in Alzheimer's brain.

© SPL

Lithium, a common treatment for manic depression, might also help to stave off Alzheimer's disease. Patients who take the drug to stabilize their mood disorder are less likely to succumb to dementia, a study reveals.

For the last 30 years, lithium has been used to control the mood swings of patients with bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression. But over the last decade, an increased understanding of how the drug works has widened the scope for its use. Researchers now think that the simple salt could slow the progress of degenerative brain disorders, such as Huntington's and Alzheimer's disease.

Paula Nunes and colleagues from the University of São Paulo, Brazil, studied 74 elderly people with bipolar disorder. Four percent of those taking lithium had Alzheimer's disease, compared with 21% of patients who were not taking the drug.

The researchers conclude that lithium therapy may lower the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. They presented their data at the 9th International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, last week.

[chubtoad]

http://www.nature.co...l/040726-4.html

Lithium may fend off Alzheimer's disease

Manic depression therapy could prevent brain degeneration.
Tau filaments form tangles (dark red) in Alzheimer's brain.
Lithium, a common treatment for manic depression, might also help to stave off Alzheimer's disease. Patients who take the drug to stabilize their mood disorder are less likely to succumb to dementia, a study reveals.

For the last 30 years, lithium has been used to control the mood swings of patients with bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression. But over the last decade, an increased understanding of how the drug works has widened the scope for its use. Researchers now think that the simple salt could slow the progress of degenerative brain disorders, such as Huntington's and Alzheimer's disease.

Paula Nunes and colleagues from the University of São Paulo, Brazil, studied 74 elderly people with bipolar disorder. Four percent of those taking lithium had Alzheimer's disease, compared with 21% of patients who were not taking the drug.

The researchers conclude that lithium therapy may lower the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. They presented their data at the 9th International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, last week.

[Mind]

Mouse brain cells rapidly recover after Alzheimer's plaques are cleared

Now, I am not an expert here but this sounds familiar to one of the steps in SENS, ie. "remove the junk and the cells operate properly"

Jan. 20, 2005 — Brain cells in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease have surprised scientists with their ability to recuperate after the disorder's characteristic brain plaques are removed.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis injected mice with an antibody for a key component of brain plaques, the amyloid beta (Abeta) peptide. In areas of the brain where antibodies cleared plaques, many of the swellings previously observed on nerve cell branches rapidly disappeared.

"These swellings represent structural damage that seemed to be well established and stable, but clearing out the plaques often led to rapid recovery of normal structure over a few days," says senior author David H. Holtzman, M.D., the Charlotte and Paul Hagemann Professor and head of the Department of Neurology. "This provides confirmation of the potential benefits of plaque-clearing treatments and also gets us rethinking our theories on how plaques cause nerve cell damage."

Prior to the experiment, Holtzman and some other scientists had regarded plaque damage to nerve cells as a fait accompli — something that the plaques only needed to inflict on nerve cells once. According to Holtzman, the new results suggest that plaques might not just cause damage but also somehow actively maintain it.

Brendza RP, Bacskai BJ, Cirrito JR, Simmons KA, Skoch JM, Klunk WE, Mathis CA, Bales KR, Paul SM, Hyman BT, Holtzman DM. Anti-Aß antibody treatment promotes the rapid recovery of amyloid-associated neuritic dystrophy in PDAPP transgenic mice. Journal of Clinical Investigation, January 20, 2005.

[mike]

Here is a link to an article I just read about surgically implanting growth factors into the brains of Alzheimers patients to slow the progression of the disease.

It was interesting to me that the article expressed pessimism about widespread application of the procedure, saying that that would be impractical since surgery is involved. It was felt that methods other than surgery need to be developed.


http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2005-0...mer's_x.htm

[John Schloendorn]

Interesting... This is almost going towards a cure. We have the vaccine to clear A-beta and A-beta clearance relieves early tau aggregates (the non-hyperphosphorylated ones) and rescues the dystrophic phenotype (See Mind's post).

The remaining target for a SENS-style microbial enzyme would be hyperphospho-tau to reverse even the end-stage of the disease.