New Research Suggests That Dopamine May Improve Memory And Alleviate Physical Symptoms Of Alzheimer’s Disease
Millions of people worldwide are affected by Alzheimer’s disease, a brain disorder characterized by buildups of harmful proteins called plaques.
Plaques are made up of beta-amyloid proteins, which are believed to be a major contributor to memory loss and the decline of other mental functions associated with the disease.
Currently, no cure for Alzheimer’s exists, but scientists at Japan’s RIKEN Center for Brain Science have found a new way of combating the disease. A research team led by Takaomi Saido has suggested that dopamine can improve memory and alleviate physical symptoms of this devastating illness.
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is linked to the pleasure and reward centers of the brain. In the new study, the researchers examined dopamine’s role in the production of an enzyme known as neprilysin.
It can break down beta-amyloid proteins before they can form plaques. However, figuring out how to boost neprilysin levels in humans has been a challenge.
The researchers discovered that treating brain cells with dopamine increases the production of neprilysin and decreases the amount of beta-amyloid proteins.
They tested their theory in mice with the disease, closely monitoring the dopamine-producing neurons in the mouse brains. After eight weeks, the results showed higher neprilysin levels and fewer plaques in the prefrontal cortex of the animals’ brains.
Next, the researchers tried treating the mice for three months with L-DOPA, a drug typically used for Parkinson’s disease. They found that the drug helped reduce plaques, elevate neprilysin levels, and improve performance on memory tests.
Furthermore, neprilysin levels naturally drop in mice as they get older, particularly in the front part of the brain. This means that neprilysin can act as early warning signs for Alzheimer’s. While L-DOPA showed positive results, more work still needs to be done to ensure that it’s safe for testing on people with Alzheimer’s.
fizkes – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
“L-DOPA treatment is known to have serious side effects in patients with Parkinson’s disease,” Watamura Naoto, the first author of the study, said.
“Therefore, our next step is to investigate how dopamine regulates neprilysin in the brain, which should yield a new preventive approach that can be initiated at the preclinical stage of Alzheimer’s disease.”
It’s also important to keep in mind that successful trials with animals do not always work in humans. Many experiments with Alzheimer’s treatments have yielded promising results in mice, only to be lacking in human trials.
It is difficult to treat Alzheimer’s because the disease is very complex and progresses differently in different people.
Still, this new approach serves as another way to tackle the illness, bringing us a little bit closer to identifying other effective preventive strategies in the future.
The details of the study were published in the journal Science Signaling.
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
More About:Science
Read This Next
