Alzheimer Obesity Fat: Alzheimer linked to obesity as latest research shows body fat may directly drive brain disease

Houston Methodist’s new research reveals how obesity can direct Alzheimer’s disease. Scientists have discovered that small messengers released by fat tissue called non-cell vesicles can carry harmful signals that accelerate the accumulation of amyloid-B plaques in the brain. These vesicles even pass the blood-brain barrier and make them strong but dangerous connectors between body fat and brain health. “Solve the code of oil-brain landing: Different lipid cargo in non-cell vesicles derived from human fat is modifying amyloid aggregation in Alzheimer’s disease” Work was published on October 2 in Alzheimer & Dementia: Journal of Alzheimer’s Association.

It is investigating the connection between obesity affecting approximately 40 percent of the US population and terrible neurodegenerative disease affecting more than 7 million people in the USA.

Li Yang, a research assistant at Wong, Houston Methodist, PH.D. And Jiantting Sheng, a Professor of Biology and Mathematics Research in Radiology at the Houston Metalist Academic Institute, has led the leadership in experimental design and inter -institutional coordination.
“As the latest studies have emphasized, obesity is now considered the most changeable risk factor for dementia,” Wong, the author and director of TT & WF Chao Brain Center in Houston Methodist. He said.

Researchers realized that lipid cargoes differ between obesity and lean individuals, and how quickly the presence and levels of specific lipids, which differ between groups, come together in laboratory models of amyloid-B.

Using mouse models and sick body fat samples, researchers examined the small, membrane particles, which move along the body and act as messengers who participate in cell-cell communication. These small communicators can also pass the blood-brain barrier. Targeting small cell messengers and disrupting communication leading to plaque formation can help reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease in obese people. Researchers said that future studies should focus on how to stop or slow the accumulation of toxic proteins associated with Alzheimer’s (such as amyloid-b) in people at risk. Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Dharti Santaram, Xilal Rima, Eduardo Reategui and Willa Hsueh; and Xianlin Han of the University of Texas Health Sciences in San Antonio.