A fact that had been overlooked for so many years has just been recognized as one of the catalysts for the Alzheimer's disease. A study was published in a journal Cell Stem Cell from the Research Center of the University of Montreal Hospital. It was triggered by the observation as to why other stem cells in the brain don't repair brain damage in people affected with Alzheimer's like with other diseases and injuries of the brain.
This wasn't the first time this observation was recorded. Dr. Alois Alzheimer, the one who discovered the severe case of Dementia, had already noted of this in 1906. However, it was dismissed as a mere irrelevant observation.
Laura Hamilton, a doctoral student who was conducting the research, said that they realized that the Dr. Alzheimer himself had already noted the presence of the lipid accumulations in patient's dress after death, but this was dismissed due and forgotten due to the complexities of lipid biochemistry. The research found fatty deposits in the brains of the patients who died from Alzheimer's all of them contained droplets of fat that could be connected to the mysterious cause of the infamous disease.
A researcher and a professor at the University (of Montreal), Karl Fernandez, said that "We found fatty acid deposits in the brain of patients who died from the disease and in mice that were genetically modified to develop Alzheimer's disease. Our experiments suggest that these abnormal fat deposits could be a trigger for the disease." however, the assumption that these fatty deposits could be the cause of the disease is not yet being concluded.
Since Alzheimer's can be acquired by genes, these fatty deposits or lipids are merely catalysts to the onset of the disease. Some factors in acquiring the disease are controllable like lifestyle, but once the gene is triggered by the deposits the disease will gradually progress. Many of the patients had the diseases are over 65; however there are certain situations where you can get it as early as in your 20s that are called young - onset dementia.
This research could be a breakthrough in the medical field in the way of finding the cure or weaken the progress and development of Alzheimer's and all other types of Dementia. As of now, over 47.5 million people worldwide have the disease and after decades of research, the only medication that is available is for the symptoms, not the disease itself.
