Anatomy Shared Article Research

This blog exists for the Anatomy students at Tree of Life Christian School. We will be reading various scientific articles, summarizing our research, and then commenting on others' summaries. We hope to broaden our view of the current research surrounding the human body, and to help others see how truly amazing the design of the human body is.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Shutting Down Alzheimer's

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=shutting-down-alzheimers

Summary
Michael S. Wolfe and his colleagues through much research have found some causes of Alzheimers disease. The main thing is plaques in the brain that cause tangling which are made of A-beta (amyloid-beta). There was a debate through the 20th century whether the plaques were causes or signs of Alzheimers. Wolfe and others across the nation tried to find ways to get rid of these plaques. One way was to use proteases that would essentially cut plaques off the proteins and get rid of the A-beta. Another was to use a substance that would get rid of A-beta all together but this idea was brought down when a ten year old kid made the comment, "Couldn't these enzymes be usefull for something else in the body?". Then they tried injecting A-beta into the immune system of those who were early in Alzheimers and that proved to work until some of the patients got severe swelling in the brain. They did not use this idea again till later after research proved that it may have been the therapy that caused the swelling. Through all this research no direct cure was found but provided much hope for the future.
Response
The idea of Shutting down Alzheimers before it starts is a great idea. Although the fact that its some what genetical will be something to deal with. Maybe if they could find a way to knock it off the genes it would help. And the fact that they still don't know what everything in the body does and is responsible for is amazing. It really shows how God is an intelligent designer. I believe that soon they will find a way to shut down Alzheimers without it effecting the body in any way it will just take a lil bit of time.

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

It is a good thing to have hope but I have a question, may be not so intelligent so bare with me, but what exactly is the plaque? I'd also like to know what kind of therapy was being done, and why it caused swelling in the brain? It's good to see that we may be getting closer to finding a glimpse of a cure.

Thursday, January 10, 2008 7:57:00 PM  
Blogger Elyse Koval said...

Articles like this are what make me interested in human anatomy because it is amazing how creatively and detailed God has created the human body. It is incredible how much is still not known about the body, and it is great to see that scientists are working to target the causes of diseases such as Alzheimer's. If a cure for Alzheimer's is found, perhaps we will gain more insight into how the brain and nervous system work.

Thursday, January 10, 2008 8:51:00 PM  
Blogger SeƱor Awesome said...

Wouldn't it be better to have temporary swelling of the brain rather than Alzheimer's? Perhaps they shouldn't give up on the proposed treatment so soon. There's got to be some way to refine their technique with the amyloid-beta to make it work.

Thursday, January 10, 2008 9:27:00 PM  

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