2023-05-30 14:17:58
We know that type II diabetes increases the risk of Alzheimer’sbut the reasons behind this relationship remain unclear and under investigation.
One of the proposed theories is that high blood sugar levels could increase brain activity and cause a greater release of a substance called beta-amyloidwhich is associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
Alterations in KTP sensors
Now, a team of scientists from the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina (United States) has made significant progress in this direction, demonstrating that the increased sugar intake and excessive blood glucose levels can, on their own, lead to the buildup of amyloid plaque in the brain.
According to these authors published in the scientific environment JCI Insight , the answer lies in a series of metabolic ‘sensors’ that our cells possess, called KATP. These sensors help cells measure the amount of ATP, a fundamental source of cellular energy, present in their environment.
Thus, they found that in mouse models that received sugared water (compared to controls that simply received water) these receptors they appeared altered as a result of excessive blood glucose levels. Similarly, the brains of Alzheimer’s patients revealed, on analysis post mortemanalogous alterations linked to greater cell excitability and increased production of toxic metabolites such as beta-amyloid.
The culmination of ill health
These conclusions affect the idea that, in reality, Alzheimer’s is the culmination of a prolonged period of sub-optimal healthbeing one of the problems in this case type II diabetes or excessive sugar levels.
On the other hand, it also affects the idea that strategies such as identify and correct factors that increase the risk of Alzheimer’s onset could be more effective than the search for treatments that reverse the damage already caused by the disease.
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References
John Grizzanti, William R. Moritz et al. KATP channels are necessary for glucose-dependent increases in amyloid-β and Alzheimer’s disease–related pathology. JCI Insight (2023). DOI: 10.1172/jci.insight.162454
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