Jonathan Wilhoite Blog: Internal Battle Scars May Lead To Alzheimer’s Disease

Thursday, May 26, 2016

Internal Battle Scars May Lead To Alzheimer’s Disease

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Scientists have reason to believe that degenerative diseases may be triggered by possible toxic remnants of the body’s battle against harmful bacteria that may finally answer the question can infections cause alzheimer’s in the long run.

Just like in an actual war scenario, as the brain signals the body to fight off diseases it leaves in its path remnants akin to spent ammunition strewn all over the place.

A recent study published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, researchers from Harvard University revealed they have seen evidence of a possible offshoot of the brain’s fight for infection that could be responsible for causing Alzheimer’s disease.

The researchers trace the origin and presence of plaque in the brain, which are characterized by those tiny ball-shaped deposits that are associated with the degenerative brain disease.

It may be too early to conclude, but the study caught the interest of the medical community that infections, no matter how mild it is, could trigger a reaction that may leave debris in the brain, making them lean towards answering can infections cause alzheimer’s disease.

Scientists are also claiming that if this evidence could hold true with how it affects the development of Alzheimer’s disease, then it could be a major breakthrough in the treatment or prevention of this degenerative brain disease.

Presenting a scenario straight out of a science fiction plot, researchers explained that when a fungus, bacterium or virus gets into the brain it passes through a membrane called the blood-brain barrier. The defense system of the brain rushes in to prevent the invader from further causing damage by creating a membrane that acts like a cage out of proteins called beta amyloid.

With the microbe gets trapped into the cage until it dies-leaving behind the protein cage that represents plaque in the brain that are also commonly found among Alzheimer’s patients.

The researchers have so far confirmed their findings on results from their laboratory experiments and from samples with neurons in petri dishes taken from fruit flies, mice, yeast and roundworms, but indicate that there is still ore work to be done to determine this would be the same reaction in humans, of which plans and funding are underway to jumpstart further studies that will involve human brains.

It may be a long way to go before science may answer if infections can cause alzheimer’s disease, but science may soon be able to find out and provide a good direction towards addressing this degenerative brain disease.

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