A video shows how Alzheimer's disease could kill brain cells

Scientists have mapped how toxic proteins could infiltrate the brain and destroy its cells under conditions such as Alzheimer's disease.

When neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Lou Gehrig's disease (also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS), and Parkinson's disease develop in the brain, it is thought that toxic proteins spread and accumulate gradually. . Over time, this process kills brain cells, causing the debilitating symptoms associated with these conditions.

Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and all ALS are conditions for which dementia can be a symptom. Dementia itself is a syndrome that triggers symptoms such as progressive memory loss. According to the World Health Organization, about 50 million people have dementia. The most common form of Alzheimer's is 60 to 70% of cases.

Researchers at the Stevens Institute of Technology have used a computer model to map the evolution of these proteins in the brain and have published their work in the journal. Letters of physical examination.

A stock image of a generic brain image. Scientists have carefully mapped the spread of toxic proteins in the brain during neurodegenerative diseases for one study. Getty Images

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Dr. Johannes Weickenmeier, professor of mechanical engineering at the Stevens Institute of Technology and lead author of the study, was not immediately available for comment. However, he explained in a statement: "This is a first attempt to bridge the gap between cellular scales and global organs."

Computer models of disease are important tools for researchers because they combine biochemistry with the biomechanics of the brain to "better understand the dynamics of these diseases," he said.

Dr. James Pickett, head of research at the charity Alzheimer's Society, who did not participate in the study, said Newsweek"This innovative computer modeling technique offers a new approach to the study of the brain, which involves looking at individual cells or molecules to the entire brain and predicting how the toxic proteins associated with Alzheimer's spread."

Weickenmeier used software to map the brain with 400,000 virtual pyramids, arranged individually to reflect the folds and curves that make up the structure of the organ.

He then took data from diffusion tensor imaging, a type of MRI-based neuroimaging of brain white matter bundles, to show how electrochemical signals flow through the brain.

Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease are more common in the elderly. Getty Images

In the final phase of their research, Weickenmeier and scientists at Stanford University and Oxford University modeled diseases using equations similar to those describing how heat is generated. propagates in an object.

As these diseases originate from different parts of the brain, researchers have, by modifying the starting points, described how conditions whose symptoms vary greatly, progress and cause atrophy of the organ.

Weickenmeier explained: "These atrophy patterns are intrinsically derived from our system."

In the future, clinicians could use these models as a diagnostic tool to predict how neurodegenerative diseases could develop in an individual's brain, while researchers could use them as a basis for their treatment studies.

Dr. Sara Imarisio, head of research at the charity Alzheimer's Research UK, explained to Newsweek"Most diseases that cause dementia involve abnormal proteins that spread to the brain and cause damage to nerve cells. The diseases that cause dementia have a variety of symptoms because these proteins spread to different areas of the brain that control different aspects of how we think and behave.

"While different brain diseases involve different characteristic proteins, this study suggests that they could spread across the brain in a similar way. Using a sophisticated digital recreation of brain structure, this study has been able to replicate the characteristic features of brain lesions observed in different brain diseases.

Understanding how diseases such as Alzheimer's disease spread in the brain is crucial for developing new ways to slow down or stop the progression of symptoms, she explained.