SYDNEY, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Australian researchers have uncovered a critical link between the brain's waste-clearing system and the earliest neural deterioration in Alzheimer's disease.
The research opens new pathways for early diagnostics and therapies that enhance the brain's self-cleaning before irreversible damage occurs, according to a release from the University of Queensland (UQ) on Wednesday.
The study finds that the neurons first affected by Alzheimer's control the brain's waste-clearing fluid flow; when these neurons weaken, waste builds up, likely triggering the disease, the release said.
The five-year study, involving 25 humans between 60 and 90 years old, including 10 with mild cognitive impairment, and animal models, revealed that existing Alzheimer's drugs partially restored brain waste-clearance flow, suggesting early intervention may slow disease progression.
The findings, published in Nature Communications, show these key neurons clear toxins while people are awake, challenging the idea that this process happens mainly during sleep, said the study's senior author Elizabeth Coulson from UQ's School of Biomedical Sciences and Queensland Brain Institute.
These findings build on Coulson's 20-year research, including linking sleep apnea to Alzheimer's-like damage and identifying p75NTR as a trigger for neuronal death.
Coulson said they are working to develop a drug that targets the p75 cell death receptor to prevent neuron loss, rather than only treating dementia symptoms.
"If that worked, it would be a breakthrough and could improve thousands of lives," she said. Meanwhile, collaborator Xia Ying of UQ's School of Biomedical Sciences is evaluating existing drugs' effectiveness when administered earlier in the disease timeline. ■
