Community Chat

[JustJazzmom]

Waving to Pit!!

[kdgn]

Pity- Marp left you a link on Donna's thread regarding the announcement on Alzheimer's.

[pitdakota]

Geez everyone. Good to see everyone though!!

Thanks kdgn....I just posted in the house and missed the link. I saw Marp's post. Geez, I must still be sleep deprived and worn out from yesterday.

I will go take a look. Thanks kdgn!

[Lila Belle]

pidakota's the best !

I really admire you and the work you do.

[pitdakota]

kdgn, that link takes me to this thread.

[Marp2]

Hi Pit, so glad you stopped by tonight. Earlier I read an exciting article that I would like you to take a look at (it is brief) and give your opinion on the findings and a brief outline of the procedures that will be followed to bring this to fruition if it stands up to peer review and independent scrutiny.

For the first time, and to the astonishment of many of their colleagues, researchers created what they call Alzheimer’s in a Dish — a petri dish with human brain cells that develop the telltale structures of Alzheimer’s disease. In doing so, they resolved a longstanding problem of how to study Alzheimer’s and search for drugs to treat it; the best they had until now were mice that developed an imperfect form of the disease.

The key to their success, said the lead researcher, Rudolph E. Tanzi of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, was a suggestion by his colleague Doo Yeon Kim to grow human brain cells in a gel, where they formed networks as in an actual brain. They gave the neurons genes for Alzheimer’s disease. Within weeks they saw the hard Brillo-like clumps known as plaques and then the twisted spaghetti-like coils known as tangles — the defining features of Alzheimer’s disease.

Balance of article: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/researchers-replicate-alzheimer%E2%80%99s-brain-cells-in-a-petri-di...

[pitdakota]

Hey, hey....the gang is all here.

Well except for Marp.

We have an amazing group of women on these boards!!

JustJazzMom....I saw the Linea thread you were talking about a little while ago. I am in sooooo much trouble. But a girl has to have very nice clothes for work. That is my story and I am sticking to it!!!

[pitdakota]

Okay Marp, let me go take a look.

[pitdakota]

On 10/12/2014 Marp2 said:

Hi Pit, so glad you stopped by tonight. Earlier I read an exciting article that I would like you to take a look at (it is brief) and give your opinion on the findings and a brief outline of the procedures that will be followed to bring this to fruition if it stands up to peer review and independent scrutiny.

For the first time, and to the astonishment of many of their colleagues, researchers created what they call Alzheimer’s in a Dish — a petri dish with human brain cells that develop the telltale structures of Alzheimer’s disease. In doing so, they resolved a longstanding problem of how to study Alzheimer’s and search for drugs to treat it; the best they had until now were mice that developed an imperfect form of the disease.

The key to their success, said the lead researcher, Rudolph E. Tanzi of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, was a suggestion by his colleague Doo Yeon Kim to grow human brain cells in a gel, where they formed networks as in an actual brain. They gave the neurons genes for Alzheimer’s disease. Within weeks they saw the hard Brillo-like clumps known as plaques and then the twisted spaghetti-like coils known as tangles — the defining features of Alzheimer’s disease.

Balance of article: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/researchers-replicate-alzheimer%E2%80%99s-brain-cells-in-a-petri-di...

Wow, how exciting!! I had heard that they had previously tried to generate plaques and tangles in liquids and ultimately were not able to do so successfully. But I had not heard this news.

The latest I had heard was a few months ago about the success of using retinal scans to detect the beta-amyloid plaques associated with Alzheimer's disease. And since beta-amyloid plaques are only associated with Alzheimer's it seems a sure fire way to diagnose or catch it early.

However, that is after the fact. If they can subject these beta-amyloid plaques and tangles to various medications and study the effect that will be phenomenal. Then fingers crossed they can find a medication currently in use for something that is safe that would preclude the development of plaques. That would be the best case scenario!!

[Marp2]

Thanks Pit. I got so excited when I read that article that I wanted to be sure I wasn't overlooking something that was an obvious overstatement. Of course my brain also went of a flight of fancy and I started asking:

Since it appears that plaque and tangles have a symbiotic relationship I'm particularly interested in whether interrupting the symbiosis will halt progression.

Another thought I've had has to do with plaque itself. Mom had scans a number of years before she became symptomatic with dementia that revealed numerous plaque spots (unknown type). My nephew has MS with an unusual amount of brain plaque. If the plaque could be dissolved or halted could that prevent, halt or reverse dementia and/or the effects of MS?

So many possibilities if this research and the technique proves itself, not only for brains but the entire body.