[extropy-chat] Alzheimer breakthru?

Hal Finney hal at finney.org
Thu Sep 30 16:55:58 UTC 2004


Damien Broderick forwards:
> http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/printpage/0,5942,10922717,00.html
> Alzheimer's breakthrough 'excites' scientists

This was a good article but it seemed to be edited badly and stopped in
the middle of a thought.  I found the abstract for the conference presentation
at http://www.asbmb.org.au/combio2004/abstracts/edited/VERDILE-20040713212913.rtf.

After menopause, estrogen levels fall, and this causes other hormone
levels to rise.  The key sentence is, "We now report that high LH levels,
rather than the decrease in oestrogen per se, are associated with lower
cognitive performance (assessed by CAMCOG scores) in elderly women
without dementia."  LH, luteinizing hormone, is of a class of hormones
known as gonadatropins, part of the many hormone groups related to the
female reproductive cycle.  The new results show biological evidence
that LH affects the processing of the proteins which are precursors to
Alzheimer's plaques.  Based on this, the abstract concludes,

"Taken together, these results suggest the marked increases in
serum LH following menopause/andropause as a physiologically relevant
signal that could promote A-beta secretion and deposition in the aging
brain. Suppression of the age related increase in serum gonadotropins
using gonadotropin releasing hormone agonists/antagonists may represent
a novel therapeutic strategy for AD [Alzheimer's Disease]."

Hal



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