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Alzheimer's disease may be infectious in nature, scientists claim
Last reviewed: 30.06.2025
Recent research has shown that Alzheimer's disease may be infectious in nature, just like mad cow disease.
Alzheimer's syndrome and mad cow disease are close relatives, as both diseases arise for similar reasons. In both cases, the onset of the disease is associated with an incorrect configuration of protein molecules. It is known that protein has a unique spatial structure. But sometimes it happens that a protein can have several different structures, including a pathological one, as a result of which the molecules begin to form massive aggregates, which leads to clogging of the nervous system.
Diseases such as mad cow disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob syndrome are highly contagious and are caused by prion proteins, which, when they enter the human body, provoke other proteins to form a pathological spatial structure. Infection occurs when eating the meat of a sick animal. As it turns out, Alzheimer's disease can also be infectious. At least, this is what the results of recent studies by American scientists (University of Texas) show.
Scientists took a sample of brain tissue from Alzheimer's patients and injected it into healthy mice. At the same time, other animals were injected with a normal sample of brain tissue. The results of the experiment showed that amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, characteristic signs of Alzheimer's, began to form in the brains of mice that received an injection of diseased tissue.
Statistics show that Alzheimer's disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. So the results of this study do not add joy to doctors and relatives of patients.
Let us recall that scientists recently discovered that the first target of Alzheimer's disease is the sense of smell, and even earlier they found a revolutionary way to diagnose Alzheimer's disease.
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