Alzheimer’s Disease Protein Flows Through Brain’s Neurons

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(  the tau that ultimately kills the cells )

Alzheimer’s appears to spread through the brain like poison in a river, according to a study that's the first to track the destruction caused by an abnormal protein implicated in the disease. Researchers created genetically engineered mice with abnormal tau protein in the brain’s entorhinal cortex, the first place the substance shows up in people with Alzheimer’s, according to a paper in the journal PLoS One. From there, they mapped the mouse brains over 22 months as the tau spread across neurons within the organ to other regions.

Tau is one of two abnormal proteins tied to Alzheimer’s. The one more closely associated is beta amyloid, which can be detected using imaging tools. While high levels of beta amyloid can predict risk, the amount of tau found after death correlates more closely with dementia, said Karen Duff, the lead researcher. Knowing the path tau takes in the brain may one day improve treatment, she said.

“There may be an intervention point that might prevent dementia” if scientists can figure out how to stop the tau from spreading, said Duff, who is a professor of pathology at Columbia University Medical Center. The place where abnormal tau shows up earliest isn’t associated with dementia at all, she said.

Tau also is involved in other kinds of dementia, including frontotemporal lobe dementia, Parkinson’s disease and Lewy body disorder, Duff said. The spread is probably similar even if the abnormal protein arises somewhere else in the brain. Continue to read: bloomberg.com

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