Wednesday, May 2, 2018

Forgetting to Lose Sleep?



              Recently we were visited by Dr. Roberto Fernandez-Romero who presented his research on Alzheimer’s Disease which effects an estimated 5.7 million people in the United states alone. Which is quite the infamous disease as of late. Dr. Fernandez-Romero detailed the progressive pathology of Alzheimer’s disease. He explained this is a neurodegenerative disease, that usually occurs once someone reaches their older life, generally around the age of 65, and dementia is one of the signs of the emergence of the disease.
              He explained how the proteins Beta Amyloid and Tau are proteins that maintain microtubule structure and transport. When these proteins begin to malfunction, they form plaque within the brain, which then ends up blocking transmission at the synapses resulting in the inhibition of brain activity. This plaque often starts in the medial temporal lobes and progress toward the parietal and temporal, which is the memory center of the brain. Which is why dementia occurring. Something of note that Dr. Fernandez explained was the visuospatial symptoms that are prevalent in over a third of the patients with Alzheimer’s disease. He explains the relevance of the visuospatial symptoms in terms of Alzheimer’s since it is used to help identify faces, while the dorsal region is used for attaching meaning to locations of objects. When posterior cortical and the parietal lobes begin to atrophy the degeneration of these networks occur. Dr. Fernandez-Romero wanted to find markers of network degradation by age and stage by correlation them to errors in the simulator.
              He tested this Dr. Fernandez-Romero had subjects perform simulated driving tests where they would have to remember how to get to and from certain locations in the simulation. He observed many memory errors and accidents that occurred within the simulator to tests the participants to create and retain a temporary visuospatial memory map. The participants varied in age and had different stages of Alzheimer’s disease. The whole point of this was to mimic how some Alzheimer’s patients would be driving and then suddenly forget where they are going or were they are at while driving. Even if they have done so before.
              One thing that Dr. Fernandez-Romero made note of was that the reason for Alzheimer’s is due to the amyloid buildup. In a study conducted last month by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism they saw that one night of sleep resulted in an immediate increase in beta-amyloid, which is one of the protein’s that Dr. Fernandez-Romero stated causes a plaque buildup in the brain which is thought to be the source of Alzheimer’s. The researchers used PET scans on 20 healthy subjects. They saw a 5% increase in of beta-amyloid after the participants have been awake for 31 hours straight. This could help shed some light as to why so many people have this disease, especially scary for college students. Who tend to essentially put off sleep in favor of studying for class.
              On a sadder note, a drug that showed promised has failed in a large scale clinical trial that was conducted by Eil Lilly. The drug, solanezumab was used to treat patients with mild dementia. It failed detailing how by that time it might to extensive of a damage. The drug worked by attacking amyloid plaques. Although, it was thought this type of buildup is what causes Alzheimer’s disease, it seems that no drug that that removes or prevents the plaque build has shown any promise as a real treatment. Apparently, some experts in Alzheimer’s weren’t too surprised that it wasn’t effective. They believe that this reflects that the disease is due to “multipronged cascade of causes, including amyloid buildup.” This could also be since that Alzheimer’s pathology begins damaging the brain long before the symptoms emerge. Detailing how complex this disease truly is; there might be other factors besides that amyloid buildup and how it could be too late to actually treat once it appears.





Fernandez, Roberto, and Charles J. Duffy. “Early Alzheimer's Disease Blocks Responses to Accelerating Self-Movement.” Neurobiology of Aging, vol. 33, no. 11, 2012, pp. 2551–2560., doi:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2011.12.031.


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