Neurogenesis in Alzheimer’s Disease: Implications for HD?
Researchers have found evidence of neurogenesis, the growth of nerve cells in the brains of deceased Alzheimer’s patients. Alzheimer’s disease, like HD, involves the loss of nerve cells in the brain. (For more information about the comparisons between Alzheimer’s and HD, click here.) Similar to those with HD, Alzheimer’s patients do not generate new nerve cells to replace the ones that are destroyed by the disease. For HD and Alzheimer’s sufferers, real recovery is not possible because the loss of nerve cells is extremely slow, and drugs that reduce the rate of nerve cell loss have had a minimal impact.
However, a neurologist at the Buck Institute for Age Research in Novato, CA, recently discovered that in Alzheimer’s patients, new, immature nerve cells had been slowly growing in the hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for memory. The neurologist and his colleagues began to wonder if the immature nerve cells would mature into fully functioning brain cells and if enough nerve cells would regenerate in order to slow the progression of the disease. New drugs might play a role in speeding up neurogenesis. Stem cells may also provide the key to developing new, functional brain cells. (For more information about stem cells, click here.)
A breakthrough of this kind for Alzheimer’s patients would be a hopeful sign for HD sufferers. Perhaps similar methods may be used to stimulate the growth of new nerve cells in the brains of people with HD.
Last Modified: 05/22/2009
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