Alzheimer’s Breakthrough: Brain Metals That May Drive Disease Progression Revealed

New research concerning the cause and spread of Alzheimer’s Disease has been performed and analyzed by a joint collaboration by several colleges including the University of Warwick, Keele University, the University of Florida, and the University of Texas at San Antonio. The research focuses on the consistency of iron-based substances in the brain throughout the progression of Alzheimer’s. One of the iron-based substances named magnetite was discovered by advanced microscopes to be present in Alzheimer’s patients. This element is not chemically native to the brain, so is assumed to be a bi-product of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Scientists removed plaques from the brains of diseased patients in order to perform the research. The main discoveries of the research was the presence of these iron-based substances in amyloid protein plaques within the brain. However, this allows pharmaceutical scientists to test and develop iron-modifying drugs as potential treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. It is proposed that the cause of the presence of iron-based substances such as magnetite in the brain may be linked to what causes the brain diseases related to dimentia, which are a serious condition in the United States. In fact, soon there will be over 1 million patients diagnosed with dementia in the United Kingdom. Further research involving Alzheimer’s Disease and correlations between iron or other non-native substances in the brain may help scientists to find new bases for developing Alzheimer’s treatments.

Key Points:

  • 1Protein in the brain caused toxicity and cell death, leading to Alzheimer’s.
  • 2Significant presence of metals linked to Alzheimer’s can lead to further answers and ways to prevent onset.
  • 3There is no cure but if we can delay the onset by 5 years then the number of people diagnosed with be cut in half.


Understanding the significance of these metals to the progression of Alzheimer’s could lead to more effective future therapies which combat the disease at its root.

See the original at: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-06-alzheimer-breakthrough-brain-metals-disease.html

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HealthStatus has been operating since 1998 providing the best interactive health tools on the Internet, millions of visitors have used our health risk assessment, body fat and calories burned calculators. The HealthStatus editorial team has continued that commitment to excellence by providing our visitors with easy to understand high quality health content for many years.

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