For many years, the majority of brain researchers have assumed that the accumulation of amyloid plaques in the brain is the principal cause of Alzheimer’s disease. It was thought the decline in cognition was caused by the development of the plaques. Yet despite many expensive attempts at developing anti-amyloid drugs, little or nothing in the way of successful therapies is available. This has led some researchers to explore whether or not the amyloid plaques, although clearly involved with the disease, are not the proximate cause. The amyloid hypothesis has been questioned, given the large number of clinical trials in which drugs targeted and successfully cleared amyloid from the brain but did not halt or reverse cognitive decline.
Recently published work seems to point in this direction. The researchers used brain scans combined with Obj-SCD (“objectively-defined subtle cognitive difficulties”), a refined set of tests for assessing cognition. Their work appears to show that development of amyloid plaques did not emerge before the development of subtle cognitive difficulties.
Here are five links to media articles on the work:
We Just Got More Evidence Our Leading Hypothesis About Alzheimer’s Could Be Wrong
Objective subtle cognitive difficulties predict amyloid accumulation and neurodegeneration
Which Comes First, Cognitive Problems Or Beta-amyloid Plaques?
Amyloid Accumulation Doesn’t Always Precede Cognitive Decline
What causes Alzheimer’s? Not toxic amyloid, new study suggests
Here is a link to the research paper:
Objective subtle cognitive difficulties predict future amyloid accumulation and neurodegeneration
All links have been added to Alzheimer’s > Neurology & Neuroplasticity.
