Alzheimer`s disease

Rosemary and spearmint extract stave off Alzheimer’s disease

A new study has revealed that enhanced extracts made from special antioxidants in spearmint and rosemary reduces deficits caused by mild cognitive impairment, which can be a precursor to Alzheimer’s disease.

Susan Farr, Ph.D., research professor geriatrics at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, said that although the study suggested that eating spearmint and rosemary is good for you, their experiments were in an animal model and she doesn’t know how much- or if any amount- of these herbs people would have to consume for learning and memory to improve.

Farr tested a novel antioxidant-based ingredient made from spearmint extract and two different doses of a similar antioxidant made from rosemary extract on mice that have age-related cognitive decline.

She found that the higher dose rosemary extract compound was the most powerful in improving memory and learning in three tested behaviors. The lower dose rosemary extracts improved memory in two of the behavioral tests, as did the compound made from spearmint extract.

Further, there were signs of reduced oxidative stress, which is considered a hallmark of age-related decline, in the part of the brain that controls learning and memory.

“Our research suggests these extracts made from herbs might have beneficial effects on altering the course of age-associated cognitive decline,” Farr said. “It’s worth additional study.”

The study was presented at Neuroscience 2013.

Source: Zee News

 

 

Alzheimer’s disease could soon become history

Researchers from the Yale University School of Medicine have found a protein that is the missing link in the complicated chain of events that lead to Alzheimer`s disease.

Researchers also found that blocking the protein with an existing drug can restore memory in mice with brain damage that mimics the disease.

Stephen Strittmatter, the Vincent Coates Professor of Neurology and senior author of the study, said that the new discovery has given them hope that they e can find a drug that is going to work to lessen the burden of Alzheimer`s.

In earlier work, Strittmatter`s lab showed that the amyloid-beta peptides, which are a hallmark of Alzheimer`s, couple with prion proteins on the surface of neurons. By an unknown process, the coupling activates a molecular messenger within the cell called Fyn.

In the new study, the team revealed the missing link in the chain, a protein within the cell membrane called metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 or mGluR5.

When the protein is blocked by a drug similar to one being developed for Fragile X syndrome, the deficits in memory, learning, and synapse density were restored in a mouse model of Alzheimer`s.

The findings have been reported in the journal Neuron.

 

Early diagnostic tool for Alzheimer’s comes closer to reality

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Researchers have made a new breakthrough which may not only help diagnose Alzheimer`s, but also assess its severity

Researchers have made a new breakthrough which may not only help diagnose Alzheimer`s, but also assess its severity.

Patients with Alzheimer`s disease currently undergo neuropsychological testing to detect signs of the disease. The test results are difficult to interpret and are insufficient for making a definitive diagnosis.

But as scientists have already discovered, activity in certain areas of the cerebral cortex is affected even in the early stages of the disease. Professor Tiago H. Falk of INRS`s Centre Energie Materiaux Telecommunications, specializing in biological signal acquisition, examined this phenomenon and compared the electroencephalograms (EEGs) of healthy individuals (27), individuals with mild Alzheimer`s (27), and individuals with moderate cases of the disease (22).

He found statistically significant differences across the three groups.

In collaboration with neurologists and Francisco J. Fraga, an INRS visiting professor specializing in biological signals, Professor Falk used an algorithm that dissects brain waves of varying frequencies.

Falk said that what makes this algorithm innovative is that it characterizes the changes in temporal dynamics of the patients` brain waves.

He asserted that the findings show that healthy individuals have different patterns than those with mild Alzheimer`s disease and asserted that they also found a difference between patients with mild levels of the disease and those with moderate Alzheimer`s.

The study has been published in the journal PLOS ONE.