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Alzheimer's Disease Jumps Across Brain Cells to Spread Like Infection
from CBS News
Alzheimer's disease spreads through the brain like an infection, jumping from one cell to another, according to a new study.
The study found that tau protein--which is indicative of the fibrous tangles found in brains of people with Alzheimer's--spreads along the brain's neurons from one region to the other, resulting in severe dementia. The new clues on the neurodegenerative brain disorder might help scientists find a way to stop the disease from getting worse.
For the study--published in the Feb. 1 issue of PLoS One--researchers genetically modified mice to have a human gene for the abnormal tau protein in the entorhinal cortex--an area of the brain's temporal lobe where tau buildup is thought to begin to accumulate in people. The researchers analyzed the mice's brains over a 22-month period to map the protein's spread and found that as mice aged, the tau spread to different regions of their brains across synapses--the junctions neurons use to communicate with each other.
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