Proteins that cause Alzheimer's disease may come from outside the brain

  Xinhua News Agency, Sydney, September 26 (Liu Shiyue) Australian researchers have found through animal experiments that the beta amyloid protein associated with Alzheimer's disease may come from other organs in the body and penetrate the brain through the blood.

This discovery brings new ideas for the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

Related papers have been published in the American "Public Library of Science · Biology" magazine.

  The lead author of the paper and Associate Professor of Curtin University in Australia, Ryusuke Takeuchi, told Xinhua News Agency that the abnormal accumulation of β-amyloid in the brain and eventually the formation of plaques is one of the main pathogenic factors of Alzheimer’s disease, but this “toxic” The source of "protein" and the reason why it appears in the brain is still unclear.

His research team discovered through animal experiments that this protein may come from outside the brain and penetrate into the brain through the blood.

  The researchers genetically modified the experimental mice so that the experimental mice produced beta amyloid, which is produced in humans, only in the liver instead of the brain.

The researchers then discovered that beta amyloid deposits appeared in the brains of the experimental mice, and the experimental mice showed symptoms similar to Alzheimer's disease, such as brain inflammation and memory loss.

  Takeuchi Ryusuke said that outside the brain, the liver and small intestine are the main organs that produce beta amyloid.

Beta amyloid is combined with lipoprotein and is transported in the body through the blood.

When the lipoprotein carrying beta amyloid is overloaded, it may leak into the brain through the blood.

The experimental mice only produced beta amyloid in the liver, but found deposits of this protein in the brain, confirming this.

  He said that this research has brought new ideas for the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's disease, such as adjusting the diet to maintain the balance of lipoproteins in the blood, or developing drugs that can block this permeation pathway.