Why do some people have no symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease?
He Alzheimer’s disease This neurodegenerative disease It is progressive, affects the brain and is the most common cause of dementia in older people. It is characterized by deterioration of memory, thinking and behavior, which significantly impairs a person’s ability to carry out daily activities. As the disease progresses, people may lose the ability to respond to their environment or engage in conversation. Symptoms usually begin mildly and gradually worsen over time.
Recent study scientific research carried out by researchers from Netherlands and published in a specialized magazine Acta Neuropathology Communications found that a subgroup of people showed clear signs of progression Alzheimer’s disease in his brain tissue, but surprisingly, he does not develop the typical symptoms of the disease throughout his life. This discovery raises important questions about the mechanisms of the disease and its impact on different people.
Studying
The study authors examined samples Brain Bank Netherlandswhich contains brain tissue larger than 5000 deceased donors. This bank contains a large number of donors and labels samples with very accurate neuropathological diagnoses. In addition, he keeps detailed records of each donor’s disease progression and medical history. These samples provide a valuable source of information for researchers, allowing them to study differences between people who develop symptoms Alzheimer’s disease and those who don’t.
Thus, they identified a subgroup 12 patients whose brain tissue had typical characteristics Alzheimer’s disease, such as amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, but who do not develop the usual symptoms during their lifetime. They called this group “stable group” and began to study other specific features present in their brain tissue. The identification of this group raises important questions about why some people’s brains may resist the effects of these pathological features.
The study revealed interesting results. For example, it was noticed that in brain tissue In this group there is a type of neurons called astrocytes, which act as “cleaners“More than normal amounts of an antioxidant called metallothionein are produced from brain waste. This antioxidant helps protect cells from oxidative damage, which is a common feature in the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. Moreover, although in most people these cells can increase inflammation by interacting with microglia, a type of specialized immune cells in the brain, in the resistant group these inflammatory pathways were less active.
This decreased inflammatory activity may be one of the keys to understanding why these people did not develop symptoms despite sharing the same brain markers as people with symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. Chronic inflammation is known to play a role in many neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease. By reducing inflammation, the brain can better deal with plaques and tangles without functional decline.
Finally, patients with Alzheimer’s disease They typically demonstrate a deficiency in the brain’s cellular response to eliminate defective proteins characteristic of the disease. However, in stable group, this answer worked relatively fine. This suggests that the ability of these cells to maintain their function “cleaning“Can be critical to preventing symptoms from occurring.
These results open new avenues for research into prevention and treatment Alzheimer’s disease. If factors that contribute to this resistance, such as antioxidant production and inflammation regulation, are identified, it may be possible to develop treatments that mimic these natural processes. This would give hope to people at risk of developing Alzheimer’s diseaseimproving their quality of life and reducing the burden of this devastating disease.