It may be possible to improve most people with Alzheimer’s disease by giving them a drug that attacks the fatty plaques that form in their brain early in the development of the disease, suggests work conducted by Quebec researchers .
Postdoctoral researcher Laura Hamilton, from the CHUM research center, and her colleague Karl Fernandes, associate researcher at CRCHUM and professor-researcher at the University of Sherbrooke, reported in 2015 that fatty deposits (should not confused with plaques of proteins better known in the context of Alzheimer’s disease) are clogged in the brain of patients.
These fatty accumulations were first detected in the brains of rats, then their presence in the human brain was confirmed during post-mortem examination.
Their new work, which is the subject of a journal publication Natureform the second chapterFernandes says, because they are interested in how we attack the enzyme responsible for forming these lipids.
More specifically, the new paper focuses specifically on the hippocampus, a brain structure essential for memory and learning.
What we see is if we give it to the brain [de souris] this drug that inhibits the enzyme that creates this fatty acid that we think is toxic, we can reverse many of the genes involved in Alzheimer’s disease to levels similar to those in wild rats, so […]at a more normal ratesummary of Ms. Hamilton.
Furthermore, the affected genes play an important role in various aspects of Alzheimer’s diseasehe added.
These fatty deposits appear to form in the brain early in the course of the disease, before many other changes that will eventually cause the common symptoms of Alzheimer’s, but after the build up of amyloid proteins early on. of sickness.
The drug we used would change the composition of fatty acids and it would correct memory.said Mr. Fernandes. It’s like the missing link between the trigger, amyloid, and everything you see afterwards.
Medicine [le SCDi] also had the effect of fighting inflammation in the brain and restoring connections between cells, said Ms. Hamilton. The rats that received it regained the same memory capacities as a mouse that never got sick, after only one month of treatment and they even showed obvious memory loss.
Ms. Hamilton and Mr. Fernandes can almost claim that they have, as early as 2015, put the scientific community on the path of these fatty accumulations in the brain in the context of Alzheimer’s disease.
But when we go back to the scientific literaturesaid Mr. Fernandes, we have seen that Drs. Alois Alzheimer made these lipid aggregates a hundred years ago.
But after a few years, people like this didn’t think it was important, so they forgot about it in the literature.he pointed out.
However, since 2015, many other researchers have become interested in the role that SCDi may play in combating other neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis. A clinical trial was even initiated to treat Parkinson’s last year.
So far, only two Quebec researchers will examine in depth the role of these fatty deposits in Alzheimer’s disease.
Their work could lead to the development of new diagnoses for the disease and, they hope, new treatments, especially since the necessary inhibitors are already available on the market after being developed for other health problems, which will develop the third chaptersaid Mr. Fernandes.
We controlled the memory with a drug, after only a monthunderlined Ms. Hamilton. Perhaps if we treat longer, sooner, or later, we can have more extraordinary side effects. We don’t know, but it’s very promising for us.
Source: Radio-Canada
