The article we have covered this week, “Insulin signaling pathway and related molecules: Role in neurodegeneration and Alzheimer’s disease,” was an article about the correlation between the reception of insulin and Alzheimer’s. Basically, it works as following; insulin has to bind to a receptor along a phospholipid bilayer, and various chemicals (such as Grb2, MAP, and Kinases) must take their respective places to fulfill their roles, and then regular expression and regulation takes place. However, must that process fail, various things can go wrong to cause Alzheimer’s disease such as insulin resistance.The topic today is why people should care about this topic and what the people must know, so without further ado let’s get reading!
The article informs us that some of the distinguishable characteristics of Alzheimer’s disease are connected to both poor and abnormal insulin signaling. Though, the article specifically mentions neurofibrillary tangles and amyloid-beta plaques. As a result of this connection, we can now classify Alzheimer’s as the third type of diabetes by definition of diabetes.
Figure one from the article mentioned above^1 is specifically excellent at explaining insulin reception where it was needed (excellently timed, or in other words placed). This simultaneously is even a chart which shows what can go wrong, and spawn Alzheimer’s disease in the brain as a result. Although, it could feel scrambled if you’re not too familiar with the many acronyms in the Neuroscience field. This was an excellent piece to me for it is maximized simplicity, for clear reasons that kind of thing strongly helps. The figure may also benefit people uninvolved in Neuroscience as well because figure one works like a flowchart, and I find that effective myself in general because it’s easy on the eyes to track or logicate.
Now, at this point, one, such as yourself, may wonder why people really should care about all the above information. Well, let’s answer with essential basics to answer ourselves by quickly asking ourselves something simpler first; what really is a concussion? Well, concussion is not very nice at all and looks even worse when examined scientifically. According to Mayo Clinic, a concussion is defined as a, “mild traumatic brain injury that affects brain function….”^2 Considering that we know the brain to be the most vital organ of all in the body, it’s no shock that such a scenario is serious and even severe. This reminds me of something.
This human body response to direct brain trauma, a concussion, reminds me of my own concept of “alternative neurology.” Alternative neurology is a concept I have conceptualized in class just a couple weeks ago. Alternative neurology is the term, or in other words an unofficial term, for the brain’s ability to adapt to form after damages forces cell death and other happenstances. My term may sound much like neuroplasticity, a word used to reference the brain’s ability to adapt to stimulus in general, but rather alternative neurology adaptation refers to so-called “bad stimulus” solely whereas neuroplasticity instead includes any stimulus at all which is more general.
1. “Insulin signaling pathway and related molecules: Role in neurodegeneration and Alzheimer’s disease”
2. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/concussion/symptoms-causes/syc-20355594
