Research Sheds Light on Mechanism of Alzheimer's Disease

摘要

@@ Scientists from the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica (SIMM) under the CAS Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences have made significant progress in suggesting a possible mechanism for the accumulation of amyloid β-peptides (Aβs), which are believed to cause Alzheimer's disease.rnAβs are fragments of a protein that is snipped from another protein called amyloid precursor protein (APP). In a healthy brain, these protein fragments would be broken down and eliminated. In Alzheimer's disease, unfortunately, the fragments accumulate to form hard, insoluble plaques, which are the characteristic lesions found in Alzheimer's patients and could dramatically inhibit several genes critical to memory and learning.