Researchers have discovered a new avenue of cell death in Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia.
The researchers conducted the study examining post-mortem human brain tissue of patients with dementia.
Back has long studied myelin, the insulation-like protective sheath covering nerve fibers in the brain, including delays in forming myelin in premature infants. The new research extends that line of work by uncovering a cascading form of neurodegeneration triggered by deterioration of myelin. They made the discovery using a
Microglia are resident cells in the brain normally involved in clearing cellular debris as part of the body's immune system. When myelin is damaged, microglia swarm in to clear the debris. In the new study, researchers found that microglia themselves are destroyed by the act of clearing iron-rich myelin—a form of cell death known as ferroptosis., Back called it amazing that researchers hadn't made the connection to ferroptosis until now.
Co-author Kiera Degener-O'Brien, M.D., initially discovered the degeneration of microglia in tissue samples, Back said. Adeniyi subsequently developed a novel immunofluorescence technique to determine that iron toxicity was causing microglial degeneration in the brain. This was likely a result of the fact that the fragments of myelin are themselves rich in iron, Back said.DM containing myelin debris in CMI and nCMI cases were similar and displayed no significant differences.
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