Close X
Monday, November 11, 2024
ADVT 
Health

Protein 'switch' to turn off Alzheimer's identified

Darpan News Desk IANS, 25 Nov, 2014 11:07 AM
    Blocking a protein that acts like switch to wake us up may help prevent Alzheimer's disease, new research has found, pointing towards a new target to prevent this devastating brain disorder.
     
    The new research, in mice, demonstrates that eliminating that protein - called orexin - made mice sleep for longer periods of time and strongly slowed in the brain the production of amyloid beta protein plaques characteristic of Alzheimer's disease.
     
    "This indicates we should be looking hard at orexin as a potential target for preventing Alzheimer's disease," said senior author David Holtzman from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
     
    "Blocking orexin to increase sleep in patients with sleep abnormalities, or perhaps even to improve sleep efficiency in healthy people, may be a way to reduce the risk of Alzheimer's," Holtzman pointed out.
     
    Researchers had earlier found that sleep loss may increase risk of Alzheimer's in both people and mice.
     
    Orexin is made by cells in the brain's hypothalamus that stimulate wakefulness.
     
    "These cells have branches that carry orexin throughout the brain, and the protein acts like a switch," Holtzman explained.
     
    In the current study, the researchers worked with mice genetically engineered to develop a build up of amyloid in the brain.
     
    When the researchers bred these mice with mice lacking the gene for orexin, their offspring slept longer, typically an extra hour or more, and developed only half as many Alzheimer's plaques, compared with the mice that had the orexin protein.
     
    When scientists reversed the experiment and artificially increased orexin levels throughout the brain, the mice stayed awake longer and developed more Alzheimer's-like plaques.
     
    The study appeared in The Journal of Experimental Medicine.

    MORE Health ARTICLES

    Protein linked to heart attack identified

    Protein linked to heart attack identified
    A protein that increases levels of LDL (low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol, also referred to as "bad" cholesterol, in the bloodstream is associated with heart attacks, says a study....

    Protein linked to heart attack identified

    Mentally ill women face increased risk of sexual assault

    Mentally ill women face increased risk of sexual assault
    Despite public concern about violence being perpetrated by patients with mental illness, researchers have found that women with severe mental...

    Mentally ill women face increased risk of sexual assault

    Sex hormones linked to sudden cardiac arrest

    Sex hormones linked to sudden cardiac arrest
    In what could lead to prevention of sudden cardiac arrest, a study led by an Indian-origin cardiologist has found that levels of sex hormones in the blood are linked to the heart rhythm disorder....

    Sex hormones linked to sudden cardiac arrest

    Why obesity runs in families

    Why obesity runs in families
    That parental obesity affects the likelihood of children to over-eat and develop obesity is known, but researchers have now identified the genetic...

    Why obesity runs in families

    Watch your diet to reduce diabetes risk

    Watch your diet to reduce diabetes risk
    Losing weight may be good but not enough to prevent Type 2 diabetes as researchers have shown that you do not have to be overweight to have elevated levels of...

    Watch your diet to reduce diabetes risk

    Special team in PMO will fast-track Japanese investment: Modi

    Special team in PMO will fast-track Japanese investment: Modi
    Assuring the same quick reaction and proactive response a Japanese investor accorded when he was chief minister of Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra...

    Special team in PMO will fast-track Japanese investment: Modi