From the first moment I discovered my dad
had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, it seemed like I was alone in this ugly
place. Even ones who had loved ones suffering in this way; even though people TALKED
about the disease, it felt for me like they did little more than mumble about
the experience. Not one to shut up for any known reason, I added a section to
this blog…
Every month, I’ll be highlighting Alzheimer’s
research that is going on RIGHT NOW! Harvested from different websites,
journals and podcasts, I’ll translate them into understandable English and share
them with you. Today: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/02/190206104607.htm
“When hamsters and
other small mammals hibernate, their brains undergo structural and metabolic
changes to help neurons survive low temperatures. A key event in this process
appears to be the phosphorylation of a protein called tau, which has been implicated
in AD. In the brains of hibernating animals, phosphorylated tau can form
tangled structures similar to those seen in AD patients. However, the
structures disappear and tau phosphorylation is rapidly and fully reversed when
the hibernating animal wakes up.”
This article
caught my eye because I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of “cold sleep”. Many
science fiction stories use it as a possible way for Humans to travel
interplanetary or interstellar distances and awake at their destination barely
aged from the moment they were placed in it.
Notable examples
of the idea are the Star Trek Original Series episode, “Space Seed”, in which
Ricardo Montalban and his genetically altered cronies – who had, incidentally,
attempted to take over all the governments on Earth and were arrested, tried,
and exiled from Earth. Packed into the slow starship, BOTANY BAY, they were shot
into space prior to the invention of warp drive and discovered by the USS
Enterprise and reawakened. Various tense situations ensued until the crew of
the Enterprise sent them, refrozen, on their way to a colony world called Ceti
Alpha V…
A more recent example
of using “cold sleep” or “suspended animation” is the 2016 film, “Passengers”
in which the gorgeous Jennifer Lawrence and the dashing Christopher Pratt are
colonists on a “sleeper ship” voyage that will take some 120 years to complete.
Something goes wrong, and Pratt wakes up alone. He lasts a year, then wakes Lawrence
up and after much angst, the Avalon really malfunctions and they have to save
the crew and passengers (5256 of them).
Research continues
into the idea of suspended animation, and scientists have even discovered that
weird little creatures called tardigrades or “water bears” can actually form
something called “living glass” (https://www.sciencealert.com/we-can-now-harness-the-tardigrade-s-strangest-superpower-and-give-it-to-other-organisms)
and can be revived from this state decades later.
At any rate, the
hamster brains form the dreaded tau proteins, which, along with plaques, are believed
to be the major components causing Alzheimer’s. The thing is that, when the
hamster awaken, the tau proteins vanish…
Why is that? The
chemistry of the hamster’s brains change dramatically, some 337 new chemicals
flood it that are different from those in a normally functioning (Siberian
hamster) brain. “The largest change for any metabolite -- about 5-fold more in
hibernating animals compared with control animals -- was for phosphatidic acid,
which is known to activate an enzyme that phosphorylates tau.” IOW, the tau
proteins that create the plaques in THEIR brains (and the plaques are very
similar to the ones that form in the brain of our beloved family members who
suffer from Alzheimer’s) VANISH once the cutie fuzzball wakes up! So there’s
something in the hamster brain that changes the protein back into its former
benign nature.
What does this
mean for our parents or for others who are just now discovering that they may
be in the early stages of Alzheimer’s?
It’s just one more
bit of hope to hold out to those who are just beginning this long – and for me
and my family – recently completed journey.
