September 17, 2015

UF Health researchers find some evidence of link between stress, Alzheimer’s disease


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.

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