Neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s may be linked to defective brain cells disposing toxic proteins that make neighbouring cells sick, a new study has found. Researchers found that while healthy neurons should be able to sort out and rid brain cells of toxic proteins and damaged cell structures without causing problems, laboratory findings indicate that it does not always occur. The findings may have major implications for neurological disease in humans and possibly be the way that disease can spread in the brain, said Monica Driscoll, from Rutgers University in the US. Researchers found that roundworms engineered to produce human disease proteins associated with Huntington’s disease and Alzheimer’s, threw out more trash consisting of these neurodegenerative toxic materials. While neighbouring cells degraded some of the material, more distant cells scavenged other portions of the diseased proteins.

Source: Hindustan Times February 12, 2017 17:26 UTC