News Release

Pathological aging brains contain the same amyloid plaques as Alzheimer's disease

Peer-Reviewed Publication

BMC (BioMed Central)

Pathological aging (PA) is used to describe the brains of people which have Alzheimer's disease (AD)-like pathology but where the person showed no signs of cognitive impairment whilst they were alive. New research, published in BioMed Central's open access journal Alzheimer's Research & Therapy, shows that PA and AD brains contain similar amyloid β (Aβ) plaques and that while on average AD brains contain more Aβ there was considerable overlap in Aβ subtypes. These results suggest that PA may simply be an early stage of AD.

AD is the most common cause of dementia. It can result in loss of memory, mood changes, and cause problems with communication and reasoning. The disease is characterized by large numbers of Ab; plaques, tangles and neuroinflammation changes within the brain. People with PA also have Ab; plaques, but less neuroinflammation and other AD specific brain changes, so it has been previously suggested that the Ab; plaques in PA are different and somehow less toxic than those in AD.

Researchers from University of Florida and Mayo Clinic, supported by the National Institute of Health, compared post-mortem brain tissue from people with AD, PA, and controls. When they looked at the type and amount of Ab; they found that while both AD and PA had elevated levels of Ab; on average levels were slightly lower in PA.

Comparing subtypes of Ab demonstrated that there was a great deal of similarity and overlap between AD and PA and biochemical analysis showed both AD and PA have dramatically, but equivalent, higher levels of insoluble Ab, compared to controls. Further studies showed that that there were really no major differences between the accumulated Ab in both AD and PA.

Dr Todd Golde, who coordinated the research, commented, "We found a high degree of overlap in Ab levels, profiles, and solubility, between the brains of people with PA and AD. While there might be some subtle differences in Ab, it seems that PA may represent an early stage of AD rather than a benign form of Ab deposition, and that if they live long enough people with PA will go on to develop AD. We hope that understanding the differences between PA and AD will provide new ways to help protect the brain and promote the development of AD therapeutics."

###

Media Contact

Dr Hilary Glover
Scientific Press Officer, BioMed Central
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3192 2370
Mob: +44 (0) 778 698 1967
Email: hilary.glover@biomedcentral.com

Notes to Editors

1. Overlapping profiles of abeta peptides in the Alzheimer's disease and pathological aging brains Brenda D Moore, Paramita Chakrabarty, Yona Levites, Tom L Kukar, Ann-Marie Baine, Tina Moroni, Thomas B Ladd, Pritam Das, Dennis W Dickson and Todd E Golde Alzheimer's Research & Therapy (in press)

Please name the journal in any story you write. If you are writing for the web, please link to the article. All articles are available free of charge, according to BioMed Central's open access policy.

Article citation and URL available on request on the day of publication.

2. Alzheimer's Research & Therapy is the major forum for translational research into Alzheimer's disease. An international peer-reviewed journal, it publishes open access basic research with a translational focus, as well as clinical trials, research into drug discovery and development, and epidemiologic studies.

3. BioMed Central (http://www.biomedcentral.com/) is an STM (Science, Technology and Medicine) publisher which has pioneered the open access publishing model. All peer-reviewed research articles published by BioMed Central are made immediately and freely accessible online, and are licensed to allow redistribution and reuse. BioMed Central is part of Springer Science+Business Media, a leading global publisher in the STM sector.


Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.