I was surprised: Mom may forget you more easily

A few days ago, were you moved by the news that "a 2000 boy took his grandmother with Alzheimer's disease to college"? After all, many of us were raised by our grandmothers.

"He has forgotten the world but has not forgotten to love you." This is the tearful and helpless portrayal of many families of Alzheimer's patients.

With the increasing aging population in China, the number of Alzheimer's patients is rising rapidly, and the number of female patients far exceeds that of male patients.

But why are there more female patients than male patients? According to the experimental data of the recent research team, we can find some answers.

Image source: pexels

01

Irreversible disease

Before understanding gender differences, let us first understand the “true face” of Alzheimer’s disease.

Alzheimer's disease, commonly known as senile dementia, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease. This disease is like a thief, stealing people's memory and some thinking abilities, causing them to gradually lose basic life abilities such as judgment, speech expression, and walking.

The disease process does not happen overnight, but is a relatively slow process.

At the beginning, the patient will not show any symptoms, but imaging examinations can show that the beta-amyloid protein in the patient's brain is deposited and aggregated to form plaques, blocking signal transmission between cells.

Then, the patient's thinking and memory abilities will change subtly, leading to cognitive impairment. Then, among those with mild cognitive impairment, 10%-15% will become more serious and eventually develop Alzheimer's disease.

Image source: pixabay

02

Hypothesis on the cause of disease

Why are women more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease? Scientists have summarized many possible reasons for this problem. Some people believe that lack of sleep and long-term stress may be the causes of Alzheimer's disease in women.

Some people have suggested that this is the reason for the high incidence of Alzheimer's disease; some people have suggested that women who carry specific risk genes are more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease; there are also claims that this is related to the decrease in hormones in women after menopause, but these reasons lack substantial evidence.

With the latest research report released by Ye Keqiang's team at the Institute of Brain Cognition and Brain Diseases, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, it was revealed that the "culprit" that makes women more susceptible to Alzheimer's disease is actually the increase in follicle-stimulating-hormone (FSH).

Studies have shown that the level of follicle-stimulating hormone in women soars after menopause, which is 10 or even dozens of times higher than before menopause. However, the level of follicle-stimulating hormone in elderly men of the same age group only increases by 2 to 3 times.

When increased follicle-stimulating hormone binds to receptors on the surface of neurons in the brain, the C/EBPβ/AEP pathway in the brain is activated, leading to the onset of Alzheimer's disease.

At the same time, women's ovarian function will continue to decline with age. After menopause, the estrogen in women's bodies will further decrease (increased estrogen can inhibit the increase of follicle-stimulating hormone). At this time, the follicle-stimulating hormone will no longer be inhibited, which will make women more susceptible to Alzheimer's disease.

Image source: pixabay

Since follicle-stimulating hormone is an important factor in making women more susceptible to Alzheimer's disease, how does it affect this signaling pathway and induce Alzheimer's disease?

03

Experiments in different dimensions

The researchers first injected follicle-stimulating hormone into the Alzheimer's mouse model and found that both male and female mice showed clinical symptoms related to Alzheimer's disease. Then, they inhibited the C/EBPβ/AEP pathway in the Alzheimer's mouse model and reduced the pathological changes in the ovariectomized mice.

They then used blocking measures to prevent follicle-stimulating hormone from binding to the receptor and activating the C/EBPβ/AEP pathway, which alleviated the pathological symptoms of Alzheimer's mice after the removal of their ovaries.

A series of experiments have shown that follicle-stimulating hormone causes changes in Alzheimer's disease-related pathology through the C/EBPβ/AEP pathway.

04

Prevention + Treatment Strategies

At present, the clinical intervention methods for Alzheimer's disease are mainly drug intervention and rehabilitation training. However, these methods can only improve symptoms but cannot prevent the progression of the disease. Paying attention to non-drug treatment of early Alzheimer's disease can effectively alleviate the further deterioration of the symptoms.

The first thing is to keep exercising, which can reduce the occurrence and development of neurodegenerative diseases.

Studies have shown that people who exercise have a 35% to 38% lower risk of cognitive decline than those who do not exercise, and that more than 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week can reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease in the elderly by 40%.

Image source: pixabay

Secondly, the elderly should be encouraged to engage in more cognitive training.

Cognitive training is based on a series of trainings of different levels of difficulty targeting specific cognitive functions, thereby improving the corresponding cognitive functions of the trainees.

Elderly people can be encouraged to participate in more "group activities". Playing mahjong, chess, and square dancing appropriately may reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease.

It is understood that the research team will next conduct in-depth research at the mechanism level on the relationship between specific risk genes and follicle-stimulating hormone.

Perhaps in the near future, Alzheimer's disease will no longer be an irreversible disease...

END

Tadpole Musical Notation original article, please indicate the source when reprinting

Editor/Heart and Paper