PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Dietary treatment shows potential in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease

2014-01-24
(Press-News.org) Contact information: Heikki Tanila
heikki.tanila@uef.fi
358-403-552-084
University of Eastern Finland
Dietary treatment shows potential in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease New research findings indicate that an early onset of dietary treatment may slow down the progression of Alzheimer's disease. The study was conducted on mice, and the results will be published in the February issue of Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry. Researchers from the University of Eastern Finland played a key role in the study, which was carried out as part of the LiPiDiDiet project funded by the European Union.

According to current understanding, Alzheimer's disease develops slowly and it may take up to 20 years before the first obvious symptoms occur. With the development of early diagnostics of the disease, the question of which treatments to offer to completely healthy people with an increased risk of developing Alzheimer's becomes of key importance in the field of medicine. Various dietary treatments seem a promising alternative.

Several epidemiological studies suggest that docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), an omega-3 fatty acid found in fatty fish, might reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease. Experimental studies have also observed a positive – although modest – association between DHA and several processes behind Alzheimer's disease. This recently published study investigated whether the efficacy of DHA treatment can be enhanced by additional nutrients.

The study used transgenic female mice carrying APP and PS1 mutations linked with familial Alzheimer's disease, and wild-type mice. All the mice began the dietary intervention at 5 months and continued on the diet until 13 months old. The fat content of the control chow was increased to better correspond to human diets. In addition to the control chow, some of the APP/PS1 mice were fed three experimental chows enriched with fish oil and having a similar fat content as the control chow: fish oil supplement only, plant sterol supplement or Fortasyn supplement, which contains uridine-monophosphate, phospholipids, B- vitamins, and antioxidants.

As expected, APP/PS1 mice performed significantly poorer than wild-type mice in the Morris swim navigation task, which measures long-term spatial memory. Among transgenic mice on the experimental diets, the mice on the Fortasyn diet performed equally well as the wild-type mice, whereas other dietary treatments showed no improvement. However, all test diets reversed the memory deficit of the APP/PS1 mice in the odour recognition task. The levels of accumulated amyloid-β protein in the brain were examined at the end of the study. A significant reduction in the amyloid-β levels was observed in the plant sterol group while other experimental diets showed no effect. However, why was a substantial reduction in brain amyloid-β levels not accompanied by a positive memory effect in the spatial task in the plant sterol group? One explanation is that the plant sterol diet increased formation of reactive oxygen species in the hippocampus, whereas the Fortasyn diet, which yielded the best results in the spatial memory task, tended to have an opposite effect.

The results indicate that even slight changes in the composition of the diet may, under a sufficiently long period of time and at an early stage of the disease process, lead to significant changes in brain metabolism and improved memory performance. On the other hand, the mere brain amyloidosis in Alzheimer's disease involves several mechanisms and it is unlikely that a single cocktail of nutrients will provide an optimal outcome. According to the researchers, the results definitely encourage further development of dietary treatments for Alzheimer's disease.

The now studied Fortasyn supplement is found in the medical nutrition formulation Souvenaid that just was introduced in Finland. In the light of the present results, the product can be warmly recommended for the treatment of mice suffering from mild cognitive impairment (pre-Alzheimer's), but will it work as efficiently in humans, too? We will probably get the answer in a year, as results from a parallel clinical study of the LiPiDiDiet project become available. The study is coordinated by the Brain Research Unit at the Clinical Research Centre of the University of Eastern Finland.

### For further information, please contact:

Professor Heikki Tanila
tel. +358403552084
heikki.tanila(at)uef.fi

Research article:

Special lipid-based diets alleviate cognitive deficits in the APPswe/PS1dE9 transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer's disease independent of brain amyloid deposition

Hennariikka Koivisto, Marcus O. Grimm, Tatjana L. Rothhaar, Róbert Berkecz, Dieter Lütjohann, Rajsa Giniatullina, Mari Takalo, Pasi O. Miettinen, Hanna-Maija Lahtinen, Rashid Giniatullin, Botond Penke, Tamás Janáky, Laus M. Broersen, Tobias Hartmann, Heikki Tanila.

Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry 2014; 25: 157–169.


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Lal Teer and BGI jointly announced the complete sequence of water buffalo

2014-01-24
January 24, 2014, Bangladesh, and Shenzhen, China-Lal Teer Livestock Limited, an associate of LalTeer Seed Ltd., the largest seed company in Bangladesh with strong hybrid research program, and BGI, the world's largest ...

Plant scientists unravel a molecular switch to stimulate leaf growth

2014-01-24
Ghent – 22 January 2014. Mechanisms that determine the size of plants have fascinated plant scientists of all times, however they are far from understood. An international ...

The origin of the evil conformation

2014-01-24
"When they are healthy, they look like tiny spheres; when they are malignant, they appear as cubes" stated Giuseppe Legname, ...

When hospitals share patient records, emergency patients benefit, study suggests

2014-01-24
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — As hospitals and doctors' offices across ...

Rainforests in Far East shaped by humans for the last 11,000 years

2014-01-24
New research from Queen's University Belfast shows that the tropical forests of South East Asia have been shaped by humans for the last 11,000 years. The rain forests of Borneo, Sumatra, Java, ...

Loyola physician research shows gap in care for childhood cancer survivors

2014-01-24
MAYWOOD, Ill. – A recent study shows that many internists feel ill-equipped to care ...

Infections damage our ability to form spatial memories

2014-01-24
Increased inflammation following an infection impairs the brain's ability to form spatial memories – according to new research. The impairment results from a decrease in glucose metabolism in the ...

A good tern deserves another

2014-01-24
The use of portable, wireless cameras and monitoring equipment for recording and transmitting footage of wildlife is perhaps familiar to anyone who watches nature programs on TV. However, common ...

Researchers developing new approach for imaging dense breasts for abnormalities

2014-01-24
(Lebanon, NH, 1/24/14) — Dartmouth engineers and radiologists are developing new approaches ...

Simple protein test could improve prediction of survival rates for patients with head and neck cance

2014-01-24
Scientists from The University of Manchester – part of the Manchester Cancer Research Centre - used a simple protein test that could prove more ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Hydroquinone-buffered covalent organic frameworks for long-term photocatalytic hydrogen peroxide production

From coal to chemicals: Breakthrough syngas catalysis powers green industrial future

AI detects the stiffness of cancer cell exosomes: DGIST develops deep learning-based lung cancer diagnostic technology

Positive ethnic identity fosters STEM career aspirations

Wildlife show wide range of responses to human presence in U.S. national parks

Great Tits show early signs of splitting up: Oxford researchers uncover social clues to bird 'divorce'

From the lab to the hand: nanodevice brings personalized genomics closer to reality

Women politicians receive more identity-based attacks on social media than men, study finds

Idaho National Laboratory accelerates nuclear energy projects with Amazon Web Services cloud and AI technologies

Kavraki elected to European Academy of Sciences

UK teens who currently vape as likely to start smoking as their peers in the 1970s

Higher ultra processed food intake linked to increased lung cancer risk

Exercise rehab lessens severity, frequency + recurrence of irregular heart rhythm (AF)

Deep heat beneath the United States traced to ancient rift with Greenland

Animals in national parks remained wary of human footprint during 2020 COVID shutdown

Stevens INI receives prestigious contract to advance women’s brain health

Fulbright funds OU professor’s biodiversity research

Antiviral treatment fails to slow early-stage Alzheimer’s

Can African countries meet 2030 childhood immunization goals?

Low pre-pregnancy blood sugar linked with higher risk of preterm birth, other risks

AI reveals language links between Reddit groups for hate speech, psychiatric disorders

A fast daily walk could extend your life: Study

Genome sequencing of butterflies resolves centuries-old conundrum

U-M study: E-cigarettes could unravel decades of tobacco control

Blending technologies may help coral offspring blossom

Research alert: Cannabis use disorder triples risk of oral cancer

Brown University to lead national institute focused on intuitive, trustworthy AI assistants

On track to produce better lab-grown burgers

Class divided: How Aussie highschoolers are separated on ability

Polygenic architecture of dental caries: single nucleotide polymorphisms in genetic epidemiology

[Press-News.org] Dietary treatment shows potential in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease