Alzheimer’s disease is caused by severe damage to neurons and their connections, and while there is no effective way to stop this serious neurodegenerative disease, new data allows researchers to continue to expand the information collected on this type of dementia.
Researchers from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) have shown for the first time that anxiety and problems with blood vessels are closely related to Alzheimer’s ; A particularity, this relationship occurs especially if the subject is a woman.
A study published in the Journal of Alzheimer Disease , and which is part of an emerging line of research in neuroscience: that which incorporates the cardiovascular system in explorations that go beyond the brain; specifically, on vascular disease resulting from oxidative stress and inflammation.
“It is an emerging concept in the study of Alzheimer’s disease that is gaining clinical interest. Later cardiovascular insufficiency can alter the distribution of blood flow to different organs and tissues, including the brain, and this can worsen a pathology related to this type of dementia “, highlights Dr. Francesc Jiménez-Altayó, researcher at the Department of Pharmacology, Therapeutics and Toxicology and main author of the article.
The research, led by Dr. Lydia Giménez-Llort, director of the Medical Psychology Unit of the Department of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine at the UAB, provides the first evidence that mice of advanced ages suffering from Alzheimer’s present significant alterations in their small blood vessels, which are essential in the nutrition of different organs and tissues and in the regulation of blood pressure.
“The study specifically demonstrates that the sex of the mice is a determining factor. Specifically, female mice have more pronounced vascular changes, suggesting that older women with Alzheimer’s disease may suffer more from cardiovascular dysfunctions,” says the Dra. Frances Jiménez -Altayó.
The characteristics of the small arteries were studied under different physiological conditions. Further investigation revealed that these vascular changes appear in both vascular structure and function, suggesting an abnormal distribution in peripheral blood flow.
The researchers also evaluated the animals’ behavior for cognitive and emotional effects. This allowed them to discover the existence of a strong relationship between the analyzed vascular parameters (structure, elasticity, function) and different anxiety patterns in Alzheimer’s models in mice, but also in mice that age normally.
“Although we must be cautious with these results, the correlation of behaviors proposes the existence of direct or indirect relationships between behavior and the function of the peripheral arteries. These interactions may be able to explain abnormalities of the neuro-immuno-endocrine system in charge. to regulate the performance of different organs and tissues, which we have already described in previous studies with male and female mice in the initial and advanced stages of the disease “, emphasizes Dr. Lydia Giménez-Llort.
F Jiménez-Altayó, J Sánchez-Ventura, E “Crosstalk between Peripheral Small Vessels Properties and Anxious-like Profiles: Sex, Genotype and Interaction Effects in Mice with Normal Aging and 3 × Tg-AD mice at Advanced Stages of Disease. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease (2018) 00, 1–11. Doi: 10.3233 / JAD-171019.
