Alzheimer’s: Could blood circulation be the key to the disease?

Research on Alzheimer’s disease has made massive progress over the past ten years. This Thursday, July 14, a promising new breakthrough was shared in the review Molecular Psychiatry. (source 1)

Researchers at the University of Texas performed a series of treatments on mice whose blood showed beta amyloid peptides. The accumulation of these small proteins is a characteristic sign of Alzheimer’s disease.

In this study, scientists conducted complete blood exchange diseased mice with that of healthy mice with the same genetic profile.

After several blood transfusions, the researchers found that the development of amyloid plaques cells in a transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease was reduced by 40 to 80%. This reduction also resulted in improved spatial memory performance and a decrease in plaque growth rates over time.

“This paper provides proof of concept for the use of technologies commonly used in medical practice, such as plasmapheresis or blood dialysis, that could ‘clean’ the blood of patients with Alzheimer’s disease, thereby reducing the accumulation of toxic substances in the brain“, said Claudio Soto, lead author of the study in a press release. (source 2)

This approach has the advantage of being able to treat disease in the circulation rather than in the brain”.

For now, the exact mechanism whereby this blood exchange reduces amyloid pathology and improves memory remains unclear. But what is certain is that this study is one more step towards a possible treatment for Alzheimer’s disease.