Alzheimer's May Be Third Form of Diabetes

Insulin may be as important to the mind as it is to the body, shows a report issued to Medical News Today by researchers at Northwestern University. In a study conducted by Dr. William L. Klein, professor of neurobiology and physiology at Weinberg College of Arts and Science and his colleagues, results showed that the inability of Alzheimer's patients to remember and people suffering from type 2 diabetes may be strongly linked together.

Scientists have discovered why the brain insulin receiving signals (crucial for the formation of memory) may stop working in Alzheimer's disease patients. Research has found over the last few years that the findings may show that Alzheimer's disease may actually be a novel third form of diabetes.

Studies show that a toxic protein found in the brain of individuals with Alzheimer's, removes the insulin receptor from the nerve cells making those neurons insulin resistant. This protein is known to attack memory forming synapses is called amyloid derived diffusible ligand or (ADDL). ADDLs are small, soluble, aggregated proteins. Some other research shows that the levels of brain insulin and related receptors are lower in people with Alzheimer's disease, indicating the relation with insulin resistance in the brain to diabetes.

Alzheimer's Disease causes a person to be unable to form memories and the ability to remember old ones. Eventually the person affected will be unable to care for themselves. Alzheimer's Disease affects a large percentage of the elderly population and chances are good that if one lives long enough they will be in some way affected by the disease.

In the brain, insulin and insulin receptors are vital to learning and memory. When insulin binds to a receptor at the synapse it turns on a process which is necessary for nerve cells to survive and memories to form. Alzheimer's may actually be in part of the insulin resistance in the brain. Scientists are currently looking for the reason that this process actually becomes initiated.

The new findings could significantly help researchers in finding which existing drugs currently used for diabetic patients could protect neurons from the toxic ADDLs and improve insulin signaling in people already diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease.

Clinical data strongly supports the theory in which the ADDLs accumulate at the beginning of Alzheimer's Disease and then block memory function in a process that is well predicted to be reversible.

A Dr. involved in the study has indicated that with research and development, the drugs that are currently available in the treatment of Type 2 diabetes (also known as adult onset diabetes) may become treatments used in Alzheimer's Disease. Both of the diseases generally affect the older adult population.

This study was published on the Federal American Societies for Experimental Biology Web site.

Sources used in this article are as shown: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/83872.php