Chapter 7. Life-Span Development of the Brain and Behavior
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components of amyloid plaques, the notorious protein clumps
found littering the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease,
might fight inflammation. Researchers report that several of
these sticky protein fragments, or peptides, glom onto
inflammatory compounds and reverse paralysis in mice that have a
condition similar to multiple sclerosis. A fragment of tau
protein, which shows up in other brain deposits in Alzheimer’s
patients, has a similar effect. When tested on blood taken from
three MS patients, the tau peptide weeded out some inflammatory
culprits there, too, researchers report in the April 3 Science
Translational Medicine. “This is a seriously good study. It
opens up more questions than it answers,” says Jian-Guo Geng, a
cell biologist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor who
wasn’t part of the research team. “