Alzheimer’s Study Finds Possible Cause of Disease
Alzheimer’s Study Finds Possible Cause of Disease – Scientists at Duke University have uncovered a possible cause of Alzheimer’s disease, and believe that the finding may lead to a new treatment strategy.
The researchers, who conducted their study on mice, found that certain immune cells that normally protect the brain begin to abnormally consume an important nutrient called arginine. Arginine is an amino acid and scientists hypothesize that its deprivation to the brain causes Alzheimer’s disease. They managed to block that process and the disease itself in their mouse model with an anti-cancer drug which is currently being investigated in human clinical trials.
Professor of neurology, Carol Colton from the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences, told “Duke Today” that if arginine consumption is indeed so important to the disease process – it may be possible for scientists to block it in the future, and reverse the disease.
The study was published in the Journal of Neuroscience.
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