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Studies are producing mounting evidence that light flickering and sound clicking at the gamma brain rhythm frequency of 40 Hz can reduce Alzheimer's disease (AD) progression and treat symptoms in human volunteers as well as lab mice. In a mouse model, researchers reveal a key mechanism that may contribute to these beneficial effects: clearance of amyloid proteins, a hallmark of AD pathology, via the brain's glymphatic system, a recently discovered "plumbing" network. The paper describes a series of experiments showing that when sensory gamma stimulation increases 40 Hz power and synchrony in the brains of mice, that prompts a particular...

Researchers earlier this year showed that the common herpes virus could induce plaques in the brain associated with Alzheimer's disease. Now, researchers are working to understand what might slow progression of the disease. They have tested 21 different compounds in Alzheimer's-afflicted neural cells in the lab, measuring the compounds' effect on the growth of sticky beta amyloid plaques. These plaques develop in the brains of people with Alzheimer's. The researchers found that two common compounds—green tea catechins and resveratrol, found in red wine and other foods—reduced the formation of plaques in those neural cells. And they did so with few...

New research from the University of Cincinnati bolsters a hypothesis that Alzheimer’s disease is caused by a decline in levels of a specific protein, contrary to a prevailing theory that has been recently called into question.The research is focused on a protein called amyloid-beta. The protein normally carries out its functions in the brain in a form that is soluble, meaning dissolvable in water, but it sometimes hardens into clumps, known as amyloid plaques.The conventional wisdom in the field of Alzheimer’s research for more than 100 years stated that Alzheimer’s was caused by the buildup of amyloid plaques in the...

In patients with serious and long-term COVID-19, disturbed blood coagulation has often been observed. Now, researchers have discovered that the body's immune system can affect the spike protein on the surface of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, leading to the production of a misfolded spike protein called amyloid. The research team studies illnesses which are caused by misfolded proteins, of which Alzheimer's disease in the brain is the most well-known example. The researchers noted that there are many similarities between COVID-19-related symptoms and those which are observed in illnesses caused by misfolded proteins. Using computer simulation, the researchers discovered that the coronavirus'...

Alzheimer’s Breakthrough: Scientists Home In On Molecule Which Halts Development of Disease Cambridge scientists raise prospect of new generation of treatments after finding technique to limit development of biggest cause of dementia By John Bingham, 16 Feb 2015 Scientists have found a method which could potentially stop the growth of Alzheimer’s disease in its tracks, raising the prospect of a wave of new treatments for the condition. A team at Cambridge University, working with partners in Sweden and Estonia, has identified a molecule which can block the progress of Alzheimer’s at a crucial stage in its development. Not only is...

(CBS News) An ingredient used in artificial butter flavoring for popcorn may worsen the effects of an abnormal brain protein that's been linked to Alzheimer's disease. A new study in Chemical Research in Toxicology examined diacetyl (DA), an ingredient used to produce the buttery flavor and smell in microwave popcorn, margarine, candy, baked goods, and even pet food. It is also created naturally in fermented drinks like beer, and gives some chardonnay wines its buttery taste, according to the study. Scientists at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis conducted an analysis of DA, a chemical which previously has been linked...

Alzheimer’s researchers are obsessed with a small, sticky protein fragment, beta amyloid, that clumps into barnaclelike balls in the brains of patients with this degenerative neurological disease. It is a normal protein. Everyone’s brain makes it. But the problem in Alzheimer’s is that it starts to accumulate into balls — plaques. The first sign the disease is developing — before there are any symptoms — is a buildup of amyloid. And for years, it seemed, the problem in Alzheimer’s was that brain cells were making too much of it. But now, a surprising new study has found that that view...

Spontaneous refolding of amyloid fibres under mild conditions could provide insight into Alzheimer's disease claim scientists in the US. Amyloids are collections of twisted or misfolded proteins and often develop in the brains of people with a number of neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. They have been considered to be the most thermodynamically stable form of protein as very harsh conditions are required to disrupt them. But Igor Lednev and his team at the University of Albany have found amyloid fibres change from one polymorph to another with just mild changes in solution temperature and salinity. Lednev hopes this discovery will provide insight...

Watertown, MA—Scientists at Boston Biomedical Research Institute (BBRI) and the University of Pennsylvania have found that combining two chemicals, one of which is the green tea component EGCG, can prevent and destroy a variety of protein structures known as amyloids. Amyloids are the primary culprits in fatal brain disorders such as Alzheimer's, Huntington's, and Parkinson's diseases. Their study, published in the current issue of Nature Chemical Biology (December 2009), may ultimately contribute to future therapies for these diseases. "These findings are significant because it is the first time a combination of specific chemicals has successfully destroyed diverse forms of amyloids...

A diagnostic compound that allows researchers to look into the brains of Alzheimer's patients will be used for the first time to gauge the effects of an experimental therapy for the disease. Called florbetaben, the diagnostic could also provide important insights into the role of beta amyloid, a protein that accumulates into plaques in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease and has been shown to be toxic to nerve cells. The compound is an 18F-radiolabelled tracer that binds specifically to deposits of beta amyloid, and can be measured using positron emission tomography (PET), a nuclear imaging technique which produces a three-dimensional image of...

AP MEDICAL WRITER WASHINGTON -- Scientists have discovered molecular janitors that clear away a sticky gunk blamed for Alzheimer's disease - until they get old and quit sweeping up. The finding helps explain why Alzheimer's is a disease of aging. More importantly, it suggests a new weapon: drugs that give nature's cleanup crews a boost. "It's a whole new way of thinking in the Alzheimer's field," said Dr. Andrew Dillin, a biologist at California's Salk Institute for Biological Studies who led the new research. The discovery, published Thursday by the journal Science, was made in a tiny roundworm called C....

Several new studies suggest that diabetes increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, adding to a store of evidence that links the disorders. The studies involve only Type 2 diabetes, the most common type, which is usually related to obesity. The connection raises an ominous prospect: that increases in diabetes, a major concern in the United States and worldwide, may worsen the rising toll from Alzheimer’s. The findings also add dementia to the cloud of threats that already hang over people with diabetes, including heart disease, strokes, kidney failure, blindness and amputations. But some of the studies also hint that measures...

Scientists are reporting that, for the first time, they have made an artificial prion, or misfolded protein, that can, by itself, produce a deadly infectious disease in mice and may help explain the roots of mad cow disease. The findings, being reported on Friday in the journal Science, are strong evidence for the so-called "protein only hypothesis," the controversial idea that a protein, acting alone without the help of DNA or RNA, can cause certain kinds of infectious diseases. The concept was introduced in 1982 by Dr. Stanley Prusiner, a neurology professor at the University of California in San Francisco,...

Drug saps Alzheimer's Optimism for chemical that destabilizes harmful protein build-ups. HELEN PEARSON Clinical studies will start within weeks on a new drug that may erode the protein clumps behind Alzheimer's disease and type II diabetes. In these diseases, proteins that are usually soluble fold abnormally into tightly packed deposits called amyloid that wreck internal organs. In mice, the prototype drug shrank these protein accretions within weeks, scientists have revealed. Preliminary tests on patients look promising. "I can't describe how excited I was," says Mark Pepys of University College Medical School in London, who has been working on the...