(Medical Xpress) -- Slowing or preventing the development of
Alzheimers disease, a fatal brain condition expected to hit one
in 85 people globally by 2050, may be as simple as ensuring a
brain proteins sugar levels are maintained. Thats the conclusion
seven researchers, including David Vocadlo, a Simon Fraser
University chemistry professor and Canada Research Chair in
Chemical Glycobiology, make in the latest issue of Nature
Chemical Biology. The journal has published the researchers
latest paper Increasing O-GlcNAc slows neurodegeneration and
stabilizes tau against aggregation. Vocadlo and his colleagues
describe how theyve used an inhibitor theyve chemically created
Thiamet-G to stop O-GlcNAcase, a naturally occurring enzyme,
from depleting the protein Tau of sugar molecules. The general
thinking in science, says Vocadlo, is that Tau stabilizes
structures in the brain called microtubules. They are kind of
like highways inside cells that allow cells to move things
around. Previous research has shown that the