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TUESDAY, Aug. 19, 2003 (HealthDayNews) -- A protein believed to be responsible for the memory loss suffered by people with Alzheimer's disease has been identified by Northwestern University researchers.
This protein could provide scientists with important information about the progression of Alzheimer's and also help lead to development of new drugs capable of reversing memory loss in people who are diagnosed and treated at an early stage of the disease.
The study appears in this week's issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The Northwestern University researchers found that the brain tissue of people with Alzheimer's contained up to 70 times more small, soluble aggregated proteins, called amyloid b-derived diffusible ligands (ADDLs), than normal brain tissue.
Their study supports a recent theory that suggests ADDLs accumulate at the beginning of Alzheimer's disease and block memory function by a process predicted to be reversible.
ADDLs attack the memory-building activity of synapses, which are communication points in the brain where neurons exchange information. While ADDLs affect the synapses, they do so without killing neurons.
"Researchers for more than a decade thought it was big molecules, the 'amyloid fibrils,' that caused memory problems, but we think the real culprits are extremely small molecules, what we call ADDLs," research team leader William L Klein, a professor of neurobiology and physiology, says in a news release.
"Now we've shown that ADDLs are present in humans and are a clinically valid part of Alzheimer's pathology. If we can develop drugs that target and neutralize these neurotoxins, it might be possible to not only slow down memory loss, but to actually reverse it, to bring memory function back to normal," Klein adds.
More information
Here's where you can learn more about Alzheimer's disease.
