Prague, July 2 (CTK) – An international research team at the Jaroslav Heyrovsky Physical Chemistry Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences has clarified one of the causes of Alzheimer’s disease or the principle on which its molecules work, the team’s head, German expert Martin Hof, has told CTK.
The number of patients with Alzeheimer’s disease, which is incurable, has been rising. It stands at some 44 million in the world at present.
The experts used a modern microscopic method to clarify the role of lipid molecules.
Hof has been working in Prague for many years. He says he feels being a German and a Czech at the same time.
He promotes ethnic diversity at the workplace.
His team, comprised of a Portuguese, a Turk and a Czech, used in their research the older knowledge that Alzheimer’s disease is caused by the aggregation of peptides which harms the brain matter.
Neuron cell membranes naturally defend themselves against the aggregation of peptides, Hof said, adding that his team proved that the neurons use saccharide-lipids to defend themselves.
With a man’s rising age, the number of saccharide-lipids declines, as a result of which Alzheimer’s disease may develop.
Hof’s team proved that saccharide-lipids can stop the dangerous aggregation of peptides.
“We can therefore slow down one of the paths related to Alzheimer’s disease,” said Mariana Amaro, the Portguese in Hof’s team of researchers.
rtj/dr
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