Woah, Alzheimer's =/= age-associated memory loss!

[El_Machinae]

This article is pretty cool. Eric Kandel is a fairly large figure in the field of Neuroscience, and it looks like they put a lot of work into this.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130828144834.htm

Eric R. Kandel, MD, has found that deficiency of a protein called RbAp48 in the hippocampus is a significant contributor to age-related memory loss and that this form of memory loss is reversible. The study, conducted in postmortem human brain cells and in mice, also offers the strongest causal evidence that age-related memory loss and Alzheimer's disease are distinct conditions.

Basically, mice don't get Alzheimer's naturally, but they suffer from age-associated memory loss.
By examining the distinct subunits of donated human brains, they found (using super-cool modern genetic technologies) that there's a specific protein in the dentate gyrus (of the hippocampus) that is produced less as people age. They then found out that the same thing happens in aging mice. THEN, they artificially turned off the protein in young mice, and showed memory deficits (yawn, I can cause memory deficits in mice easily). THEN they artificially induced the expression of this protein in the brains of aged mice and showed a recovery in memory deficits. Woah!

Studies have shown that Alzheimer's disease hampers memory by first acting on the entorhinal cortex (EC), a brain region that provides the major input pathways to the hippocampus. It was initially thought that age-related memory loss is an early manifestation of Alzheimer's, but mounting evidence suggests that it is a distinct process that affects the dentate gyrus (DG), a subregion of the hippocampus that receives direct input from the EC.

Man, I hope every researcher who has done "testing dietary compound X" on their mice is reaching to test those cryopreserved hippocampal samples...

 

[uppi]

So the treatment of age-related memory loss might be as simple as providing the brain with the right protein? If that worked out, it would be huge.

 

[peter grimes]

5 years until we see tabletop chemists knocking this stuff out for college kids, bootleg style.

This totally ties into the issues surrounding performance enhancing drugs.

The NewYorker had an article recently (can't find it online, tho) that talked about this. It noted that one of the reasons we have iodized salt is because kids in the middle of the country weren't getting enough iodine in their diet resulting in lower IQ scores. It seems unfair that someone should be penalized based on where they grow up, so Morton's Salt was encouraged to add iodine to their product.

 

[El_Machinae]

So the treatment of age-related memory loss might be as simple as providing the brain with the right protein? If that worked out, it would be huge.

It might be like lactase, the enzyme we all produce as babies to digest milk. Some people lose the production of this enzyme as they age, the production of the enzyme reduces for them. This is akin to the specific protein in the hippocampus (all enzymes are proteins), it ramps down during aging. So, it's a goal to either halt that ramping down, or to artificially increase the presence of that protein there.

Pharma's not going to jump on this until the groundwork research has been funded by governments and charities, imo.

 

[niravarav]

So the treatment of age-related memory loss might be as simple as providing the brain with the right protein? If that worked out, it would be huge.

I think the treatment of age-related memory loss should be exercising those daily important things. People normally get this problem in their last age. Their memory can't run properly like youngs. So they should practice more and more to remind things.

 

[GoodGame]

5 years until we see tabletop chemists knocking this stuff out for college kids, bootleg style.

This totally ties into the issues surrounding performance enhancing drugs.

The NewYorker had an article recently (can't find it online, tho) that talked about this. It noted that one of the reasons we have iodized salt is because kids in the middle of the country weren't getting enough iodine in their diet resulting in lower IQ scores. It seems unfair that someone should be penalized based on where they grow up, so Morton's Salt was encouraged to add iodine to their product.

The OP story sounds more like a gene therapy type of project, e.g. think of engineered, therapeutic viruses. If they could elucidate the (multiple?) pathways of how this protein interacts with receptors, possibly chemical engineers could make a compound that mimics the proteins' interactions without messing with gene therapy. That would probably be way beyond simple agonists that closely resemble molecules, which 'kitchen chemists' have power to make.

Have there been studies that up-regulate the gene to an extreme degree, in young or elderly animals? That would be interesting to know to predict what medical side-effects there might be from such a target. I wouldn't write off Pharma interests, but I bet more research would be needed to get major Pharma investment.

I like that the researchers started with microarrays and then moved on to more conclusive studies.

 

[niravarav]

Hei, do you have any technique or system to help the older aged people to remind the daily needed things those they forgot for their memory loss problem ?

 

[Borachio]

Eh, what's that?

Did someone speak? Or is it my trapped wind?

 

[niravarav]

Hei uppi said something about it. Why are you asking me ?

 

[peter grimes]

He's pretending to be confused by the sound of voices in this empty, echo-filled, sub-forum.

At least, I think he's pretending

I'm sure there are mnemonics that work well with elderly peoples' unique challenges. I'd hit up google....

 

[El_Machinae]

Hei, do you have any technique or system to help the older aged people to remind the daily needed things those they forgot for their memory loss problem ?

Routine, routine, routine. Also, visual reminders. Not to do the routine, but whether the routine has been done yet. A sticky note "water plants" might help, but moving the water pot beside the sink would be much better.

I don't really have good answers. And it's a good question. We need to crack this before the wave of Baby Boomers makes this much more scary.

 

[niravarav]

Routine, routine, routine. Also, visual reminders. Not to do the routine, but whether the routine has been done yet. A sticky note "water plants" might help, but moving the water pot beside the sink would be much better.

I don't really have good answers. And it's a good question. We need to crack this before the wave of Baby Boomers makes this much more scary.

Yes, we need to crack this before the wave of Baby Boomers makes this much more scary. But isn't there is a good solution ?

 

[niravarav]

He's pretending to be confused by the sound of voices in this empty, echo-filled, sub-forum.

At least, I think he's pretending

I'm sure there are mnemonics that work well with elderly peoples' unique challenges. I'd hit up google....

I'm also looking for a good and permanent solution for these kinds of problems. I'll surely share if I ever got any idea or solution.

 

[El_Machinae]

The solution is an affordable cure to both age-related memory loss and Alzheimer's.

 

[niravarav]

The solution is an affordable cure to both age-related memory loss and Alzheimer's.

But have you any specific treatment for age-related memory loss problem ?

 

[El_Machinae]

There is no cure; the research charities need more funding. The answer, at the personal level, is 'lifestyle'. Firstly, a diet high in vegetable and fruit (not starchy vegetables or 'candy' like fruit), coupled with green tea has been repeatedly shown to slow memory loss and increase neurogenesis. The second step is exercise.
Keep up to date on pubmed, it's a database of biology scientific studies. It's awesome.
Finally, pro-active learning is really useful. Like, exercising the brain. To me, it's more useful to 'exercise' the brain doing useful stuff than simple games. If one is truly worried about age-induced memory loss, then it's likely worthwhile actually trying to learn about it. This creates the brain exercise (that helps) and then allows someone to tweak their techniques as they learn more.
But really, a variety of bright fruits and green veggies plus light exercise would go a LONG way.
Poke around on pubmed. As well, poke around on clinicaltrial.gov to see if there's a study in your area that could use volunteers.

 

[niravarav]

El_Machinae, You are talking about foods which can really help to improve the memory loss problem. But can you suggest any tool or therapy ?
Thanks.

 

[niravarav]

Hello so, you don't have any more way ?

 

[El_Machinae]

Tools and therapies? The only ones I can suggest are diet, exercise, and pro-active learning. After that, it would have be tailored to the specific patient, which I cannot do.

Are you asking for cognitive 'tricks' to overcome memory deficits? If the patient is already at the stage where they commonly forget to take medication, then this problem is outside my knowledge base, though I suspect that there's still room for my three suggestions. Everything I know needs to be pre-emptive, hopefully starting (at least) by the time someone is in their sixties.

 

[GoodGame]

Related to the topic of funding aging research, I found this curious article:

Google is searching for longer life, announcing on Wednesday the formation of a health company focused on aging and associated diseases.

Arthur Levinson, the former chief executive officer and current chairman of biotechnology giant Genentech, will lead the new venture, known as Calico.

The launch of an independent company represents an unusual tack for Google, which typically fosters out-there ideas through its secretive Google X division or invests in promising startups through Google Ventures. But the ambitiousness of the project is in line with the thinking of co-founder and CEO Larry Page, who has taken a series of bold steps since returning to the helm in the spring of 2011.

from http://www.sfgate.com/technology/do...ure-focuses-on-aging-and-diseases-4826532.php

Interesting to see Google throw their hat in the ring, but I also recall that the CEO has sort of an interesting expand/contract kind of strategy towards Google's strategic growth.