- A new study led by researchers from Oregon Health & Science University has uncovered a new mechanism contributing to cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia.
- The research suggests that ferroptosis, a form of cell death caused by excess iron accumulation, destroys microglia cells, crucial components of the brain’s immune system.
- This discovery is likely to stimulate interest in the pharmaceutical industry to develop therapeutically important compounds that focus on reducing microglial degeneration in the brain.
A new study, published in
These cells play a key role in the brain’s immune function, in Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia cases.
The study involved the analysis of brain tissue from deceased dementia patients. It also built on previous work about myelin, which serves as a protective coating for nerve fibers in the brain.
This recent research reveals a chain reaction of neural decay set off by the breakdown of myelin.
The research team found that in patients with Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia, microglia deteriorate in the brain’s white matter.
Microglia are native cells in the brain that typically serve to remove cellular waste as part of the body’s immune response. When myelin is compromised, microglia are activated to clean up the debris.
However, the new research indicates that the microglia themselves are destroyed in the process of eliminating iron-laden myelin, through a type of cell death called ferroptosis.
Considering the extensive research focused on identifying the root causes of dementia in older populations, the researchers point out that it was remarkable that the link to ferroptosis had not been discovered until this study.
The research suggests that the chain reaction of deteriorating microglia seems to be a contributing factor to the…
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