EVANSTON, Ill. --- A Northwestern University-led research team
reports that insulin, by shielding memory-forming synapses from
harm, may slow or prevent the damage and memory loss caused by
toxic proteins in Alzheimer's disease. The findings, which
provide additional new evidence that Alzheimer's could be due to
a novel third form of diabetes, will be published online the
week of Feb. 2 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences (PNAS). In a study of neurons taken from the
hippocampus, one of the brain's crucial memory centers, the
scientists treated cells with insulin and the insulin-
sensitizing drug rosiglitazone, which has been used to treat
type 2 diabetes. (Isolated hippocampal cells are used by
scientists to study memory chemistry; the cells are susceptible
to damage caused by ADDLs, toxic proteins that build up in
persons with Alzheimer's disease.) The researchers discovered
that...read the whole story For dementia information, click here
For Alzheimer's and dementia activities, click here