Antioxidant Therapy Against Alzheimer's Disease

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For the first time, new research demonstrates that curbing harmful antioxidant processes in the brain's vasculature can reverse some of the cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer's disease. A natural enzyme of the immune system -- NADPH oxidase -- has been found to have toxic side effects, producing free radicals in the brains of mice. Identification of the enzyme's role in dementia might translate into a new drug target for Alzheimer's disease in humans, according to new findings published in a recent issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. After the offending enzyme was genetically "switched off," mice with a type of dementia mimicking Alzheimer's regained important cognitive abilities, even though the amount of Alzheimer's-linked amyloid plaques in their brains remained unchanged. These results suggest that the enzyme independently influences the progression of dementia.

The researchers, led by Dr. Costantino Iadecola, the George C. Cotzias Distinguished Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience at Weill Cornell Medical College and chief of the Division of Neurobiology at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, also genetically engineered mice that produced a mutated form of NADPH enzyme that did not produce the toxic free radicals.

The result: The formerly "demented" mice regained their healthy, exploratory behaviors, just as non-demented mice do. According to the authors, the findings suggest that neurological damage from Alzheimer's may not be permanent and might even be reversed through antioxidant treatment. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com .

The dangers of selective science

Antioxidants are back under the microscope for all the wrong reasons. But the use of meta-analyses to pool data is controversial, and scientists need to keep perspective before publishing conclusions. http://www.nutraingredients.com

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