/ News
Neuroscientists gain insight into cause of Alzheimer's symptoms
Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute scientists have uncovered a mechanism in the brain that could account for some of the neural degeneration and memory loss in people with Alzheimer's disease.
The researchers, together with scientists at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine, discovered that a common symptom of Alzheimer's disease - the accumulation of amyloid plaques along blood vessels - could be disrupting blood flow in the brain. The results were published Monday in the journal Brain.
"We've always been interested in how glial cells interact with blood vessels," said Harald Sontheimer, director of the Center for Glial Biology in Health, Disease, and Cancer at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute and senior author of the paper. "Astrocytes are the most populous cell type in the brain and even outnumber neurons."
Sontheimer also noted the importance of astrocyte function in the brain.
"Astrocytes serve many support functions, such as shuttling nutrients from blood vessels to nerve cells or removing their waste products," said Sontheimer, who is also the I. D. Wilson Chair in Virginia Tech's College of Science. "They also control the diameter of blood vessels to assure proper nutrient and oxygen delivery to the brain and maintenance of the blood-brain barrier. In response to injury and disease, however, astrocytes become reactive and change many of their supportive properties."
Sontheimer's team discovered that the astrocytes' blood flow regulation is disrupted by plaques formed of misfolded amyloid protein around blood vessels. In a healthy brain, amyloid protein fragments are routinely broken down and eliminated.
The presence of amyloid proteins around blood vessels in the brain is a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease, yet it wasn't understood if the proteins did any harm. Now, Sontheimer's team has found that they do.
"We found that amyloid deposits separated astrocytes from the blood vessel wall," said Stefanie Robel, a research assistant professor at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute and a coauthor of the paper. "We also found that these amyloid deposits form an exoskeleton around the blood vessels, a kind of cast that reduces the pliability of the vessels."
The exoskeleton is known as a vascular amyloid. Its inelasticity might result in lower blood flow, which could account for Alzheimer's symptoms, such as memory lapses, impaired decision-making, and personality changes.
"Vascular amyloid may be the culprit in Alzheimer's disease symptoms, especially considering that the amyloid exoskeleton might limit the supply of oxygen and glucose to the brain regions that need them most," Sontheimer said. "This could also explain the cognitive decline in people with Alzheimer's disease, as the disease is associated with reduced cerebral blood flow."
While the scientists don't fully understand the role of vascular amyloid in Alzheimer's disease, they now have a possible therapeutic target to study.
"It may be helpful to remove the deposits to allow for appropriate blood flow," Robel said. "The problem is we don't know. It might be harmful to remove vascular amyloid at late stages of the disease; maybe they're actually holding the vessels together."
The researchers' next step will be to examine blood vessels once the amyloid deposits are removed.
"Vascular amyloid is strangling the blood vessels," Sontheimer said. "By removing them, maybe we'll be able to restore blood flow regulation. Perhaps it'll turn out vascular amyloid is preventing further degeneration. Whatever the case, we'll certainly learn something new."
Source: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2015-11-neuroscientists-gain-insight-alzheimer-symptoms.html
/ About us
Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
/ Follow us at:
/ Contact:
For additional information, partnerships and sponsorship, contact:
info@2045.com
Media requesting information and interviews, contact PR@2045.com
LinkedIn
LiveJournal
Google
Twitter
Facebook
Я.ру
ВКонтакте
Mail.ru