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University of Central Florida Research Finds Nano Clues to Alzheimer's Disease
Nanoresearchers at the University of Central Florida are opening a new avenue in the search for a cure to Alzheimer's disease, having discovered a mechanism that may be responsible for early deterioration of brain function in Alzheimer's victims.
The research was conducted by a team led by James Hickman, head of the UCF NanoScience Technology Center's Hybrid Systems Laboratory. The team, explored impacts of very low amyloid-beta concentrations on healthy cells in an effort to mimic the earlier stages of Alzheimer's disease. (Most Alzheimer's studies have focused on brain cells already damaged by amyloid-beta or the effects of high concentration of amyloid-beta.)
The team also included Kucku Varghese, a former graduate student in the Hickman lab now at the University of Florida, who first demonstrated amyloid-beta's effects at low concentrations on healthy cells using a common cell research method that is laborious and unsuitable for long-term experiments.
UCF Research Focuses on Nanoscale Cell Activity
Researchers have known for years that a substance called amyloid-beta gums up brain cells when it becomes too concentrated, because it forms damaging deposits on the cells known as plaques. These prevent normal electrical signal generation in the cells, eventually killing them. That drives the memory loss and other problems that plague Alzheimer's sufferers.
But, the UCF team found that over time exposure to even “moderate concentrations” of amyloid-beta will somehow prevent electrical signals from traveling normally through the cells, even in healthy ones without showing any signs of detectable damage,
Hickman believes this blocking of electrical signals to even healthy cells could be a “critical process” in the progression of Alzheimer's that could occur even before a person shows symptoms of brain impairment.
If this proves true, then the team has opened a new approach to Alzheimer's treatment, one that could block early Alzheimer's – rather than simply treat and manage a patient after symptoms appear. .What we're claiming is that before you have any behavioral clues, these electrical transmission problems may be occurring," Hickman said in a statement.
The Next Nano-Steps in Alzheimer's Research
Hickman’s team is now conducted microelectrode arrays (MEA) experiments to further study their new finding. MEA studies use cultures of neurons on plates embedded with tiny electrodes that can send and measure electrical signals through nearby cells without damaging them, allowing extended experimentation.
Hickman hopes MEAs and other tools will help pinpoint the physiological and chemical changes within the brain cells that cause the loss of signal generation in healthy cells. Mechanisms responsible for the changes could offer potential for earlier diagnosis and targeting of drugs.
"We're trying to find a marker that will lead to detection and treatment while slowing down Alzheimer's progression and can really make a difference by delaying or even preventing onset of the disease," says Hickman.
In addition to Hickman and Varghese, contributors to the paper include UCF NanoScience Technology Center researchers Peter Molnar, Mainak Das, Neelima Bhargava and Stephen Lambert. Lambert also is a UCF College of Medicine faculty member. Mark S. Kindy from the Medical University of South Carolina, where Hickman and Varghese also have worked, also contributed to the study.
The work is published in the peer-reviewed science and medicine journal PLoS ONE, and will demonstrate how an updated application of an existing cell research technique could accelerate the discovery of Alzheimer's treatments.
The team also included Kucku Varghese, a former graduate student in the Hickman lab now at the University of Florida, who first demonstrated amyloid-beta's effects at low concentrations on healthy cells using a common cell research method that is laborious and unsuitable for long-term experiments.
UCF Research Focuses on Nanoscale Cell Activity
Researchers have known for years that a substance called amyloid-beta gums up brain cells when it becomes too concentrated, because it forms damaging deposits on the cells known as plaques. These prevent normal electrical signal generation in the cells, eventually killing them. That drives the memory loss and other problems that plague Alzheimer's sufferers.
But, the UCF team found that over time exposure to even “moderate concentrations” of amyloid-beta will somehow prevent electrical signals from traveling normally through the cells, even in healthy ones without showing any signs of detectable damage,
Hickman believes this blocking of electrical signals to even healthy cells could be a “critical process” in the progression of Alzheimer's that could occur even before a person shows symptoms of brain impairment.
If this proves true, then the team has opened a new approach to Alzheimer's treatment, one that could block early Alzheimer's – rather than simply treat and manage a patient after symptoms appear. .What we're claiming is that before you have any behavioral clues, these electrical transmission problems may be occurring," Hickman said in a statement.
The Next Nano-Steps in Alzheimer's Research
Hickman’s team is now conducted microelectrode arrays (MEA) experiments to further study their new finding. MEA studies use cultures of neurons on plates embedded with tiny electrodes that can send and measure electrical signals through nearby cells without damaging them, allowing extended experimentation.
Hickman hopes MEAs and other tools will help pinpoint the physiological and chemical changes within the brain cells that cause the loss of signal generation in healthy cells. Mechanisms responsible for the changes could offer potential for earlier diagnosis and targeting of drugs.
"We're trying to find a marker that will lead to detection and treatment while slowing down Alzheimer's progression and can really make a difference by delaying or even preventing onset of the disease," says Hickman.
In addition to Hickman and Varghese, contributors to the paper include UCF NanoScience Technology Center researchers Peter Molnar, Mainak Das, Neelima Bhargava and Stephen Lambert. Lambert also is a UCF College of Medicine faculty member. Mark S. Kindy from the Medical University of South Carolina, where Hickman and Varghese also have worked, also contributed to the study.
The work is published in the peer-reviewed science and medicine journal PLoS ONE, and will demonstrate how an updated application of an existing cell research technique could accelerate the discovery of Alzheimer's treatments.