Common Bacteria Linked to Alzheimer's Disease
Posted on: Saturday, 20 March 2004, 06:00 CST
Respiratory bug leads to hallmark amyloid plaques in brain
HealthDayNews -- There's a link between the common respiratory bacteria Chlamydia pneumoniae and amyloid plaques found in the brains of people with non-hereditary Alzheimer's disease.
That's the news from a study by researchers at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine's Center for the Study of Chronic Diseases of Aging.
The research in mice appears in the April issue of the journal Neurobiology of Aging.
The researchers have spent several years studying this link. This new research builds on their previous finding that C. pneumoniae is present in 90 percent of brains of people with Alzheimer's disease.
In this most recent study, the researchers showed that when the bacteria was sprayed into the noses of mice that are not predisposed to amyloid plaques, it caused progressive deposition of amyloid plaques, creating a partial model of Alzheimer's disease.
"We believe this could be a trigger mechanism for the pathology in Alzheimer's disease," lead researcher Brian Balin says in a prepared statement.
"People have been suspecting this for decades but could not find anything. It is very difficult to pinpoint an infectious cause for a progressive, chronic disease. We also believe that our isolation of Chlamydia pneumoniae from the human Alzheimer's diseased brain and induction of pathology in normal mice is proof of principle that this can be a causative mechanism turning on pathology," Balin says.
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On the Net:
U.S. National Institute on Aging
Center for the Study of Chronic Diseases of Aging
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