Could Mitochondria in Our Blood Help Treat Alzheimer's?

Research indicates that patients with neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's have less glucose metabolism in their brains, which the Mayo Clinic's Eugenia Trushina thinks stems from defective mitochondria, reports Being Patient . She suggested that low glucose metabolism in the brains of asymptomatic people could be an early indicator of Alzheimer's disease. A study in Communications Biology determined that targeting mitochondria with small CP2 molecules induces an adaptive stress response in mice, triggering multiple neuroprotective mechanisms and mildly decreasing Mitochondrial Complex I. "We have shown that not only did we protect memory and improve overall health, but we also blocked neurodegeneration, which is the most important thing, because a loss of neurons actually accounts for the loss of memory in Alzheimer's," Trushina said. Another study in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease revealed that using small molecules identified by Trushina's team to fight Mitochondrial Complex I helped restore brain function lost to tau tangles. The researchers believe investigating these mitochondrial biomarkers in humans will yield insights on how this future treatment may create new opportunities for Alzheimer's therapy.