Getting your player ready...
WASHINGTON — Researchers have found a new clue to the cause of Alzheimer’s disease.
The brains of people with the disease have a plaque made up of beta-amyloid, a sticky protein. But there is a question whether this is a cause of the disease or a side effect.
Now, researchers have caused Alzheimer’s symptoms in rats by injecting them with a particular form of beta-amyloid. Injections with other forms of beta-amyloid did not cause illness, which may explain why some people have beta-amyloid plaque in their brains but show no symptoms.
The findings by a team led by a duo from Harvard Medical School were reported in Sunday’s online edition of the journal Nature Medicine.
