Alzheimer’s disease is a serious condition that mostly affects older people. It causes memory loss, confusion, and changes in how a person thinks and behaves.
It’s the most common cause of dementia, a term used for brain disorders that make it hard to remember things, make decisions, or handle everyday tasks.
Even though many scientists have worked hard to find a cure, Alzheimer’s remains difficult to treat. To make progress, researchers have been trying to better understand what causes the disease in the first place.
For many years, experts believed Alzheimer’s was mainly caused by a sticky protein called amyloid-beta. In people with Alzheimer’s, this protein builds up in the brain and gets in the way of how brain cells communicate.
This theory has led to many attempts to create drugs that remove the amyloid-beta buildup. However, these efforts have not been very successful at stopping the disease or reversing its effects.
Recently, scientists have been exploring another idea. This new theory suggests that the problem might actually begin when the mitochondria in our cells stop working properly.
Mitochondria are often called the “powerhouses” of the cell because they produce the energy our bodies need to function. If the brain’s cells don’t get enough energy, they can’t work as they should—and this might be what sets Alzheimer’s in motion.
A team of researchers led by Jan Gruber at Yale-NUS College studied this idea using tiny worms called Caenorhabditis elegans. These worms are often used in scientific research because, even though they’re small, many of their cell processes are similar to ours.
What the researchers found was surprising: long before the worms showed signs of amyloid-beta buildup, their cells were already having trouble producing energy.
Even more exciting, the team tested a well-known diabetes drug called Metformin on the worms. When the worms were given Metformin, their mitochondria started working normally again, and the worms stayed healthy. This means that fixing the energy problems in the cells helped stop the disease from taking hold—at least in the worms.
These results give scientists a new way of thinking about Alzheimer’s. Instead of treating the disease after the brain is already damaged, we might be able to prevent it by keeping the cells healthy and their energy production stable. If this works in humans too, it could change how we approach not only Alzheimer’s but possibly other diseases of aging as well.
The study even suggests that many of the diseases we think of as separate—like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and even some heart conditions—might just be different ways the body shows signs of aging. If that’s true, then slowing down the aging process inside our cells might help prevent several diseases at once.
This research, published in the scientific journal eLife, is still in the early stages. Worms are not humans, and what works for them might not work for us in the same way. But the fact that an affordable, widely used drug like Metformin had such a strong effect gives hope. More studies are now being planned to see if the same results happen in people.
While we don’t yet have all the answers, this discovery is a promising step. It helps us look at Alzheimer’s in a new light and opens the door to fresh ideas for treatment and prevention. With continued research, we may one day be able to stop the disease before it even starts.
If you care about Alzheimer’s disease, please read studies that bad lifestyle habits can cause Alzheimer’s disease, and strawberries can be good defence against Alzheimer’s.
For more information about brain health, please see recent studies that oral cannabis extract may help reduce Alzheimer’s symptoms, and Vitamin E may help prevent Parkinson’s disease.
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