Diabetes — Alzheimer’s Link Explained
The researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have claimed to identify the probable molecular basis for the the diabetes — Alzheimer’s interaction. The risk of Alzheimer’s in the diabetics are usually higher. The probable interaction between the two remained unexplained for a long time. The study led by David R. Schubert, professor in the Cellular Neurobiology Laboratory, seems to solve the problem.
The report published on line in Neurobiology of Aging, claims that the study has found that the blood vessels in the brain of young diabetic mice are damaged by the interaction between elevated blood glucose levels characteristic of diabetes and low levels of beta amyloid, a peptide that clumps to form the senile plaques that riddle the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. Although the damage took place long before the first plaques appeared, the mice suffered from significant memory loss and an increase in inflammation in the brain.
It can be mentioned that diabetes and Alzheimer’s are considered as two major killers among the Americans especially those above 65. 7 percent or approximately 20 million Americans have diabetes, with the vast majority of these individuals being over 60.
Recent study shows that patients of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes run a higher risk of Alzheimer’s almost 30 to 65 percent. Many studies have focused on altered insulin, signaling in the brain as a possible mechanism for the association between Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes but researchers paid much less attention to the direct affects of increased blood glucose levels on brain function and the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s.
As the relation between the two diseases, the researchers of the study said while all people have a low level of amyloid circulating in their blood, in diabetics there may be a synergistic toxicity between the amyloid and high level of blood glucose that is leading to the problems with proper blood vessel formation.
Source: SCIENCE DAILY
