Study Shows Alzheimer's Disease May Spread by 'Jumping' from One Brain Region to Another

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Findings open new opportunities for studying Alzheimer's and testing potential therapies.

For decades, researchers have debated whether Alzheimer's disease starts independently in vulnerable brain regions at different times, or if it begins in one region and then spreads to neuroanatomically connected areas. A new study by Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) researchers strongly supports the latter, demonstrating that abnormal tau protein, a key feature of the neurofibrillary tangles seen in the brains of those with Alzheimer's, propagates along linked brain circuits, ''jumping'' from neuron to neuron.

The findings, published today in the online journal PloS One, open new opportunities for gaining a greater understanding of Alzheimer's disease and other neurological diseases and for developing therapies to halt its progression, according to senior author Karen E. Duff, PhD, professor of pathology (in psychiatry and in the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain) at CUMC and at the New York State Psychiatric Institute.

Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia, is characterised by the accumulation of plaques (composed of amyloid-beta protein) and fibrous tangles (composed of abnormal tau) in brain cells called neurons.

Post mortem studies of human brains and neuroimaging studies have suggested that the disease, especially the neurofibrillary tangle pathology, begins in the entorhinal cortex, which plays a key role in memory. Then as Alzheimer's progresses, the disease appears in anatomically linked higher brain regions.

''Earlier research, including functional MRI studies in humans, have also supported this pattern of spread,'' said study coauthor Scott A. Small, MD, professor of neurology in the Sergievsky Center and in the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain at CUMC. ''But these various findings do not definitively show that Alzheimer's spreads directly from one brain region to another.''

Salk study shows strawberries may help those with Alzheimer's disease

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Strawberries are similar to blueberries and red wine in having multiple health benefits, thanks to a compound called fisetin, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies reported recently.

Fisetin helps combat juvenile diabetes and protects neurons in the brain, according to a study by Salk researchers David Schubert, Ph.D., and Pam Maher, Ph.D., appearing in the journal, PLoS ONE.

Strawberries are the best source of fisetin, which appear to a lesser extent in other fruits and vegetables, according Maher.

Salk Institute Strawberry Study
The researchers gave Akita mice, which are afflicted with unusually high blood sugar, a fisetin-high enriched diet, and the medical effects of diabetes were eased, according to the study. There is also evidence that fisetin can protect neurons and could help slow or prevent neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and Huntington's Disease, Maher said.
It would take 37 strawberries daily to equal the dosage given to the lab mice, so researchers envision fisetin not as a dietary change, but as a supplement that would be taken in pill form. Although dietary supplements containing fisetin are available in the U.S., the dose is generally lower than the equivalent dose given to the mice in the study, Maher said.

Maher said the Salk researchers have had preliminary discussion with pharmaceutical companies about fisetin. Their also plan to see if fisetin is effective in treating type 2 diabetes.

Cinnamon for dementia?

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JERUSALEM, (Xinhua) -- Cinnamon, a spice usually associated with sweet foods, contains properties that may delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease, and possibly offer a cure, according to a new Israeli study.

The neurodegenerative illness is characterized by gradual memory loss, which doctors attribute to an accumulation of beta amyloid, a fibrous protein aggregate, outside the brain's nerve cells. The World Health Organization says some 70,000 Israelis are currently diagnosed with the disease, out of 18 million worldwide.

A research team, headed by Michael Ovadia from Tel Aviv University's Zoology Department, recently isolated one of the ingredients in cinnamon, CEppt, and used it in a series of tests conducted on two-month-old lab mice that were raised with five aggressive strains of Alzheimer's-inducing genes.

The experiment's results, recently published in the PLoS ONE scientific journal, were impressive. Fed drinking water containing a CEppt solution over four months, researchers found that the disease's development was delayed, with additional trials showing that existing amyloids has been dissolved.

"The finding points at the possibility that the material found may not only prevent Alzheimer's but may also contain therapeutic qualities," Ovadia told the Ha'aretz newspaper.

"The discovery is exciting," Ovadia said. He said that while some companies are developing synthetic materials to combat Alzheimer's, CEppt is a "natural and safe" material with no side effects.

Testing on humans, he said, may prove difficult owing to the disease's slow progression. The research team is now considering trying out the recent discovery on other animals.

Despite the optimistic news, Ovadia cautioned against excessive consumption of cinnamon, which can damage liver functions, and recommends consuming no more than 10 gram a day.

Meanwhile, the professor said that he and his students have begun implementing the study's findings with a daily cup of tea mixed with a cinnamon stick.