The topic for this week in Neurochemistry, the class of wonderful authors featured on Cobbers on the Brain, was a topic that hits home for millions of people around the world: Alzheimer’s disease. Having never done extensive research on the topic, I was very curious to know how and why this devastating disease developed, but just like almost all neurological diseases, the possibilities seemed to be endless. The article we discussed explained the possible connection between diabetes and Alzheimer’s development. More specifically, it looked at insulin resistance that characterizes type 2 diabetes and its role in the disease.
For both Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes, altered cell metabolism, inflammation, and insulin resistance are key pathological features in both diseases so this led researchers to explore a possible relationship between the two. It is also well known that insulin plays a role in the regulation of Beta-amyloid, the protein that builds up to form plaques in patients with Alzheimer’s. Insulin receptors have also been found to be key component in memory formation and have been found to be compromised in early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. All of these relationships direct a bulk of current research to the thought that insulin resistance, like seen in diabetes, could be directly related to the development of Alzheimer’s later in life.
What do these findings mean for Americans today?
For our society with increasing rates of obesity and diabetes, these findings should be alarming. The relationship between insulin resistance and Alzheimer’s could mean that as America continues to become a population with high rates of diabetes, more and more people could be at greater risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease.
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On a positive note, this research has opened doors to the possibility that insulin resistance treatment in the brain could eventually be a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. If it could be determined how to overcome the insulin resistance in Alzheimer’s patient brains, then the development of amyloid plaques could be reduced and memory function increased.
As research continues on this topic, I think it’s important to recognize that our lifestyle choices today always have the potential to greatly impact our future. If the thought of obesity and diabetes isn’t scary enough, always try and remember to think about that precious brain of yours!
