According to a study published in PLOS Biology, amyloid protein from the liver may lead to the development of Alzheimer’s disease in the brain.
The study was conducted by John Mamo and his colleagues at Curtin University in Australia.
For researchers, their study aimed at examining if the peripheral metabolism of amyloid-beta increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
“In this study, we report that genetic modification of C57BL/6J mice engineered to synthesise human Aß only in liver (hepatocyte-specific human amyloid (HSHA) strain) has marked neurodegeneration concomitant with capillary dysfunction, parenchymal extravasation of lipoprotein-Aß, and neurovascular inflammation,” the authors explained in their findings.
“Moreover, the HSHA mice showed impaired performance in the passive avoidance test, suggesting impairment in hippocampal-dependent learning. Transmission electron microscopy shows marked neurovascular disruption in HSHA mice.”
In closing, the study provides ample causation of a lipoprotein-Aß /capillary axis for the development of Alzheimer’s disease.
“While further studies are now needed, this finding shows the abundance of these toxic protein deposits in the blood could potentially be addressed through a person’s diet and some drugs that could specifically target lipoprotein amyloid, therefore reducing their risk or slowing the progression of Alzheimer’s disease,” the authors affirmed.
