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Katharine Frost
5/5/09
Non-hereditary alzheimers disease and the possible treatments
effects of anti-oxidants
Today over fifteen million people suffer from Alzheimer's in the entire
world, and the cost of this on the economy equals one percent of the gross
national product ( Crowther, 2006 ) One in ten people over 65 years of age,
and forty percent of people over 85 years of age have Alzheimer’s disease. (
Bahr, 2006 ) Right now, 26 million people worldwide have this disease, and
over 15 million Americans will be affected by the year 2050. ( Segal and
Wayne, 2009 ) Alzheimer's disease is is a disease of the nerve cells in the
cerebral cortex that causes brain atrophy and dementia. ( Shenk, 2001 )
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, a serious
brain disorder that impacts daily living through memory loss and cognitive
changes. Chemical and structural changes in the brain gradually destroy the
ability to create, remember, learn, reason, and relate to others. ( Segal
and Wayne, 2009 )
The symptoms of Alzheimer's disease are caused by a specific peptide
, a small protein called Ab, that accumulates in patients with Alzheimer's
disease has. ( Segal and Wayne, 2009) The Ab gets deposition in the brain
and this results in the death of neurons which then causes the loss of
cognitive function. However very few drugs, and no really effective ones
have been developed yet. ( Crowther, 2006 ) Neurofibrary tangles are also
what causes the symptoms of Alzheimer's. The ab peptide (which makes
amyloid plaques), and the neurofibrary tangles build up in various parts of
the brain, mainly
the hippocampus (the memory part of the brain ). Recent
studies using animal
model organisms have shown that the Amyloid plaques build up before the
neurofibrary tangles. ( Bahr, 2006 )
Drosophila make a good model organism for Alzheimer's studies
because unlike many other insects, drosophila ages gradually over its
lifespan,
Also although humans have twice as many genes as flies, many of the genes
found in flies are the genes that diseases occur on in humans.
Scientists such as Damien Crowther are trying to find cures for the
disease by using Drosophila, by giving the fly the gene for the human Ab
peptide, to find out which genes when turned on, or off, can make the fly
resistant to the toxic effects of the Ab peptide. The flies produce the toxic
peptide in their brains and suffer consequences that resemble the human
disease. As the Ab peptide accumulates in flies' brains they exhibit changes
in their behavior and impairment in their everyday activities (the flies do not
climb up their tubes normally) and their life span is shortened. ( Crowther,
2006)
Alzheimers
disease can be either hereditary or non-hereditary. The
gene that causes Alzheimers is the APOE4 gene. People who inherit one copy
of this gene are four times more likely to develop Alzheimer's, and people
that inherit two copies of the APOE4 gene are ten times more likely to
develop Alzheimer's later in life. It is thought that around 75 percent of
Alzheimer's patients suffer from the genetically transmitted kind ( Behkne,
1978 )
Recent studies that have looked into the non-hereditary form of
Alzheimer's have shown that the irreversible neurological degeneration
associated with Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases may be the
consequence
Of oxidative stress, which is the imbalance of antioxidants and
pro-oxidants in cells. This imbalance results in a to many harmful
oxygen-containing molecules that can cause damage to proteins. (
Korschun, 2006 ) Possible treatments for this kind of non hereditary
Alzheimer's would be high doses of antioxidants to rebalance and fix
the oxidative stress. ( Cummings, 2009 ) Things such as anti-oxidant
pills containing high doses of powerful antioxidants such as grape skin
extract or blueberries could be a potential way to treat non-hereditary
Alzheimer's ( Korschun, 2006 )
Resveratrol, a compound found in grapes and red wine, lowers
levels of the amyloid-beta peptides that cause the plaques in the brain
leading to Alzheimer's disease. It is thought that
Resveratrol acts by
stimulating the degradation of amyloid-beta peptides by the
proteasome, a barrel-shaped multi-protein complex that can
specifically digest proteins into short polypeptides and amino acids.
The deposition of amyloid-beta peptides in the brain is one of the
characteristic features of Alzheimer's disease. ( Patton, 2005 )
Studies done by Marambaud (2008) indicate that moderate
consumption of wine is associated with a lower incidence of Alzheimer’s
disease. Wine
has antioxidant compounds with potential to be a
neuroprotective. Marambaud ( 2008 ) also
found that Resveratrol as found
in gapes, helps to prevent oxidative stress and therefore prevent the
development and appearance of symptoms in
Alzheimer’s Disease
Another study done by Srinivasan ( 2006 ) found that melatonin may
have possibilities for preventing the progression of Alzheimers.
As people
age,
the rate of production of melatonin declines, and this may contribute to
Increased levels of oxidative stress in older people. Melatonin regulates the
anti oxidants and pro oxidants, and is able to increase the survival of
neurons under enhanced oxidative stress, so the decrease in melatonin
levels could lead to neuron death if oxidative stress is present. Oxidative
stress is being looked into as a possible cause of the symptoms of
Alzheimer's. It has been shown that when melatonin was given to elderly
Alzheimer's disease patients there was improved cognitive function. These
findings suggest that Melatonin may have potential as a treatment for
Alzheimer's disease patients, due to its ability to keep neurons alive even
when oxidative stress is present ad its regulation of anti oxidants and pro
oxidants. ( Srinivasan, 2006 )
These
different scientists ( Srinivasan, 2006 ) , and ( Marambaud,
2008 ) have looked into two possible ways for preventing the progression of
Alzheimer's Disease. one possible way to slow or prevent the progression of
the disease could be by treating a patient with anti-oxidants and resveratrol
to correct the oxidative stress
( Marambaud, 2008 ) , and another possible
way of treating an elderly patient suffering from Alzheimer's disease would
be to replace the melatonin in their bodies and therefore give the neurons
the
ability to survive under increased oxidative stress ( Srinivasan, 2006 ) . A
possible experiment would be to see which of these methods works the best.
This could be studied in the classroom by treating some flies with just
anti oxidants, some flies with Resveratrol, and some flies with Melatonin to
compare the results of how long the flies in the different treatments lived,
and to compare the cognitive ability and progression of Alzheimer's disease
among the flies of the different treatment methods.
The purpose of a study like this would be to see if resveratrol or high
doses of anti oxidants or melatonin really do slow down the progression of
Alzheimer's disease, and if resveratrol, anti oxidants, or melatonin do slow
the appearance of the symptoms or the progression of Alzheimer's disease
then the purpose would be to see which one ( anti oxidants, resveratrol, or
melatonin ) works the most effectively to slow the progression of Alzheimer's
disease.
Bibliography:
Bahr, Marthias; Neuro-protection, Alzheimer's Disease; Neuro-protection;
2004; page 34
Behkne, John A; Human aging; The biology of aging; published 1978, pages
182- 185
Conn, Michael; Drosophila models of aging; Handbook of Models for
Human Aging; published 2006; pages 253-255
Crowther, Damien; Alzheimer's, Working with Drosophila;
www.research-horizons.com; issue 1; October, 2006
Korschun, Holly; Scientists Discover Possible Link Between Oxidative Stress
and Non-hereditary Degenerative Disease;
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/42423.php; May 2, 2006
Marambaud, Philippe; Resveratrol Promotes Clearance of Alzheimer's
Disease Amyloid-Peptides; The Journal of Biochemistry; Vol 10; November
11, 2005; Pages 316-326
Patton, Dominique; Resveratrol Tackles Alzheimer's Plaques;
http://www.nutraingredients.com/Research/Resveratrol-tackles-Alzhei
mer-s-plaques-shows-lab-study; November 4, 2005
Shenk, D; Alzheimers disease; The Columbia Encyclopedia; Vol 6; 2008
Srinivasan, V; Melatonin in Alzheimer's Disease and other
Neurodegenerative Disorders; Behavior Brain Functions; Volume 2; May 4,
2006; 2-15
Wayne, Melissa and Segal, Jeanne; Alzheimer's Disease Symmptoms and
Stages; www.helpguide.org; 2009.