A new study - and first of its kind - has found out the cause-and-effect link between removing "zombie cells" in a mouse's brain and Alzheimer's disease. It appears to be a huge step towards treating the latter, which the medical industry has been trying to cure since time immemorial.
According to AFP, removing dead-but-toxic cells occurring naturally in the brains of mice has resulted in a significant decrease in neuron damage and memory loss, both of which are associated with the aforementioned disease. The said cells were specifically designed to mimic Alzheimer's. This discovery has the potential to open a new front in the fight against dementia.
Scientists have long known that these dead-beat cells tend to bulk up in regions of the brain, a phenomenon directly linked to old age diseases. The latter could range from osteoarthritis and atherosclerosis to Parkinson's and dementia.
Prior research had also proven that the elimination of senescent cells in aging mice extended its healthy lifespan. But as far as the new results are concerned, the study is the first to demonstrate a cause-and-effect link with Alzheimer's disease.
But any treatments that might emerge from the research are many years down the road, the scientists cautioned. That is because they would still need some calculations and further experiments to prove its efficiency.
In experiments, a team led by Tyler Bussian of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota used mice genetically modified to produce the destructive, cobweb-like tangles of tau protein that form in the neurons of Alzheimer's patients, Kopitiam Bot reports.
The mice were also programmed to allow for the elimination of "zombie" cells in the same region.
"When senescent cells were removed, we found that the diseased animals retained the ability to form memories, and eliminated signs of inflammation," said senior author Darren Baker, also from the Mayo Clinic.
The mice likewise failed to develop Alzheimer's signature protein "tangles," and retained normal brain mass. A closer look revealed that the "zombies" belonged to a class of cells in the brain and spinal cord, which is called glia, that provide crucial support and insulation to neurons.
"Preventing the build-up of senescent glia can block the cognitive decline and neuro-degeneration normally experienced by these mice," Jay Penney and Li-Huei Tsai, both from MIT, wrote in a comment, also in Nature.
Bussian and his team duplicated the results with pharmaceuticals, believing that drugs could one day slow or block the emergence of Alzheimer's by keeping these zombie cells at bay.
