Fat deposits in brain may hasten Alzheimer's disease

A breakthrough in Alzheimer's research reveals that an abnormal build-up of fat droplets in the brain may cause or speed up the disease. The finding promises to open new avenues in the search for a cure or new treatments. The research, led by the Research Center of the University of Montreal Hospital (CRCHUM) in Canada, is published in the journal Cell Stem Cell.
The researchers note how, for the first time since 1906, when Dr. Alois Alzheimer first described the disease that takes his name, they found accumulations of fat droplets in the brains of patients who died of the disease. They have also identified the type of fat.
Initially, the team was trying to find out why the brain's stem cells - which normally repair brain damage - appear to be inactive in Alzheimer's disease. They were astonished to find fat droplets near the stem cells in the brains of mice bred to develop a form of Alzheimer's disease.
First author and doctoral student Laura Hamilton says she and her colleagues realized that Alzheimer himself had noted the presence of fat build up in patients' brains after they died. This was dismissed and largely forgotten, however; at the time, the biochemistry of the fat was too complex to study.
According to the World Health Organization, there are 48 million people worldwide living with dementia - a general term for loss of memory and other mental abilities serious enough to interfere with daily life. Alzheimer's disease accounts for two-thirds of dementia cases.
The team went on to compare the brains of nine patients who died from Alzheimer's disease with the brains of five people who did not die of the disease. They found significantly more fat droplets in the brains of the patients with Alzheimer's disease. Then, using advanced mass spectrometry, the researchers identified the fat deposits to be triglycerides enriched with specific fatty acids, which can also be found in animal fats and vegetable oils.
    MNT

 

Fat deposits in brain may hasten Alzheimers disease

A breakthrough in Alzheimers research reveals that an abnormal build-up of fat droplets in the brain may cause or speed up the disease. The finding promises to open new avenues in the search for a cure or new treatments. The research, led by the Research Center of the University of Montreal Hospital (CRCHUM) in Canada, is published in the journal Cell Stem Cell. The researchers note how, for the first time since 1906, when Dr. Alois Alzheimer first described the disease that takes his name, they found accumulations of fat droplets in the brains of patients who died of the disease. They have also identified the type of fat. Initially, the team was trying to find out why the brains stem cells - which normally repair brain damage - appear to be inactive in Alzheimers disease. They were astonished to find fat droplets near the stem cells in the brains of mice bred to develop a form of Alzheimers disease. First author and doctoral student Laura Hamilton says she and her colleagues realized that Alzheimer himself had noted the presence of fat build up in patients brains after they died. This was dismissed and largely forgotten, however; at the time, the biochemistry of the fat was too complex to study. According to the World Health Organization, there are 48 million people worldwide living with dementia - a general term for loss of memory and other mental abilities serious enough to interfere with daily life. Alzheimers disease accounts for two-thirds of dementia cases. The team went on to compare the brains of nine patients who died from Alzheimers disease with the brains of five people who did not die of the disease. They found significantly more fat droplets in the brains of the patients with Alzheimers disease. Then, using advanced mass spectrometry, the researchers identified the fat deposits to be triglycerides enriched with specific fatty acids, which can also be found in animal fats and vegetable oils. MNT