New findings released in Nature Communications unveiled a new mechanism of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) that reduces blood vessels around amyloid plaques.
The study was conducted by researchers at the Biomedicine Institute of Seville.
“Here we demonstrate that angiogenesis is started near Aß plaques in both AD mouse models and human AD samples,” the study reads.
“However, endothelial cells express the molecular signature of non-productive angiogenesis (NPA) and accumulate, around Aß plaques, a tip cell marker and IB4 reactive vascular anomalies with reduced NOTCH activity.”
The reduction in blood vessels occurs through dysfunction in a physiological process known as angiogenesis, caused by Alzheimer’s.
“We also show that Aß plaque-associated NPA locally disassembles blood vessels, leaving behind vascular scars, and that microglial phagocytosis contributes to the local loss of endothelial cells,” the study determined.
“These results define the role of NPA and microglia in local blood vessel disassembly and highlight the vascular component of presenilin loss of function in AD.”
