New Theory Emerges On What Causes Brain Cells to Die in Alzheimer's

University of California-Santa Barbara (UCSB) researchers have come up with new theory on the death of brain cells in Alzheimer's that could one day aid in the development of drugs to arrest or even prevent the disease.

As reported in the July 28 online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers believe that the loss of normal tau function leads to abnormal microtubule dynamics, resulting in cell death.

Constantly growing and shortening, microtubules are long thin filaments that serve as a sort of skeleton in all cells, according to the researchers. The protein tau is thought to be a major factor in the tangles suspected of causing the death of brain cells in Alzheimer's disease.

The researchers believe that proper control of the growing and shortening of microtubules is essential for cells to perform their many tasks and remain alive. This is in contrast to a widely held model in which the tangles themselves cause cell death.

"The neurofibrillary tangles may not be involved in causing cell death in any way," said Stuart Feinstein, director of the UCSB Neuroscience Research Institute. "They may simply be a downstream consequence of tau dysfunction."

Feinstein said the exact mechanism of neuronal cell death "is enormously important because to develop effective drugs, we need to know precisely what molecular steps need to be affected."

Other sources: University of California at Santa Barbara