High blood sugar levels harmful for brain function.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: A new study has launched into uncharted territory in the search for a cure for Alzheimer’s disease after discovering an unexpected link to diabetes.
Researchers at Washington University in St Louis have found high levels of blood sugar rapidly increased the amount of rogue toxic proteins which are thought to trigger Alzheimer’s, according to U.K. publication the Daily Express.
“Our results suggest diabetes, or other conditions that make it hard to control blood sugar levels, can have harmful effects on brain function and exacerbate neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease,” stated lead researcher Dr. Shannon Macauley. “The link we have discovered could lead us to future treatment targets that reduce these effects,” she continued.
In the study, which was published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, mice bred to develop an Alzheimer’s-like condition were injected with glucose, a substance that people with diabetes are unable to regulate.
In young mice without amyloid plaques, doubling glucose in the bloodstream increased the protein in the brain by 20 per cent. In older mice, which already had these plaques, the amount of amyloid beta rose by 40 per cent, reported the Daily Express.
“This observation opens up a new avenue of exploration for how Alzheimer’s disease develops in the brain as well as offers a new therapeutic target for the treatment of this devastating neurologic disorder,” said Macauley to Science Daily.