Researchers probe brain-injury link to Alzheimer’s disease
This article was taken from Brainline.org. I have heard and been told by Dr’s that, due to my Traumatic Brain Injury, I need to take care of myself or could have Alzheimers sooner than later. This is very scary to me. I hope they find a way to help me prevent it. I am doing all I can with exercise, which is good for the brain, and decreasing my fat intake, which is also very good. It reduces the plaque build-up on your nuerons in your brain. So happy for new studies! Yay!
Dr Willie Stewart will lead the new research
Alison Camspie
The link between head injuries and Alzheimer’s Disease is to be examined by Scottish researchers in a ground-breaking new study, thanks to a donation from the US.
The effect on brain pathology of head injuries suffered playing rugby and in assaults will be the subject of a study by a research team at the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow
It has received £370,000 from the American National Institutes of Health to carry out further analysis on the hospital’s world-renowned bank of brain tissue, which has been compiled following post-mortem examinations in the west of Scotland over several decades.
It is hoped that by establishing the links between the head injury and Alzheimer’s, a greater understanding of the degenerative disease – which affects around 700,000 people in the UK – will be gained.
Almost one-quarter of people over 80 develop the condition. One in 20 of those over 65 develop the illness.
Study leader Dr Willie Stewart, a consultant neuropathologist at the Institute of Neurological Sciences at the Southern General, said: “There is a known link between people who have had a head injury and those who later develop dementia, and the rate is roughly double [the population average].
“We have been interested as to why that is.
A clue to the pathology of Alzheimer’s in those with a head injury might help us find why dementia develops Dr Willie Stewart, neuropathologist
“We have been looking at samples of brains of those who have survived many years after a head injury, and the pathological development is similar to Alzheimer’s.
“If we can get a clue as to the pathology of Alzheimer’s in those who have had a head injury, that might give us a clue as to why other dementia develops.”
It is already known there are shared patterns of brain change between those who have suffered a head injury and those with Alzheimer’s.
Certain proteins or plaques that are normally found in the brain tissue of those with dementia are present in roughly one-third of those who have suffered a head injury.
A loss of nerve cells and inflammation is also common in both groups.
It is not clear whether these changes take place slowly over decades in those with head injuries, or if they are more sudden changes later in life, Dr Stewart said.
He added that another area of interest to the research team was the fact that the top five causes of death in the UK were found at much higher rates in those who have at some time suffered a head injury.
“That event probably becomes a disease that you carry with you. Personalities change, your whole cerebral function and mental state can change, people may end up with memory problems,” he said.
“People may take more drink, there may be a social decline, or difficulty keeping a job.
“These are factors that are influencing the long-term pathology of the brain,”
In 1998, former Celtic footballer Billy McPhail lost a legal claim that his pre-senile dementia had been caused by heading heavy leather footballs during his career.
McPhail, who died in 2003, had attempted to prove his condition stemmed from his work so that he would qualify for an industrial injuries disablement payment.
Dr Stewart said the association between head injury and long-term effects on the brain had become a hot topic in the US, where links between playing American football and suicide rates had been examined by Congress.
A post-mortem examination on US college football player Owen Thomas, 21, after he committed suicide, found that he was suffering from the early stages of a brain disease linked to repeated head trauma and often seen in older athletes.
His brain tissue showed early signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which can be caused by repeated blows to the head and can cause erratic behaviour, depression and impulse control.
Mr Thomas was captain of the team at the University of Pennsylvania, which has a long association with Glasgow’s Institute of Neurological Sciences.
Dr Stewart added: “We are very interested in athletes’ brains, such as rugby players.
“We have been looking at head injuries forever, yet we know so little about them.
“It is incredible that we don’t know more.”
“It is a huge problem but we are still no exactly sure how it comes about. In head injuries, we have a potential link.”
our headbangers ball 