DOUG BENNETT, PHOTOGRAPHER:
JESSE S. JONES, UF HEALTH
(September 17, 2015) University
of Florida Health researchers have uncovered more evidence of a link between
the brain’s stress response and a protein related to Alzheimer’s disease.
The research, conducted on a mouse model and in human cells,
found that a stress-coping hormone released by the brain boosts the production
of protein fragments. Those protein pieces, known as amyloid beta, clump
together and trigger the brain degeneration that leads to Alzheimer’s disease.
The findings were published recently in The EMBO Journal by
a group that includes Todd Golde, M.D., Ph.D., director of the UF Center for
Translational Research in Neurodegenerative Disease and a professor in the UF
College of Medicine’s department of neuroscience.
The research contributes to further understanding the
potential relationship between stress and Alzheimer’s disease, a disorder
believed to stem from a mix of genetic, lifestyle and environmental factors.
The findings strengthen the idea of a link between stress and Alzheimer’s
disease, Golde said.
“It adds detailed insight into the stress mechanisms that
might promote at least one of the Alzheimer’s pathologies,” Golde said.