Gut bacteria producing SCFAs found to be the culprit behind Alzheimer’s disease
Dec
2
Previous research confirmed a correlation between alterations of the gut microbiome and Alzheimer’s, while this research by the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and University Hospitals of Geneva (HUG) in Switzerland takes it a step further identifying more specifics about this connection. The research was led by neurologist Giovanni Frisoni, director of the HUG Memory Centre and professor at the Department of Rehabilitation and Geriatrics of the UNIGE Faculty of Medicine.
Said Frisoni in the Medical Express article, "high blood levels of lipopolysaccharides and certain short-chain fatty acids (acetate and valerate) were associated with large amyloid deposits in the brain. Conversely, high levels of another short-chain fatty acid, butyrate, were associated with less amyloid pathology." Each of these short-chain fatty acids are produced by certain gut bacteria. The next step in this project is to determine which specific strains of gut bacteria are building the amyloid plaques (1). Moira Marizzoni, a researcher at the Fatebenefratelli Center in Brescia and first author of this work, confirmed this through a study of 89 individuals, successfully correlating certain gut bacteria with "the quantity of amyloid plaques in the brain," explains Marizzoni (2).
While this is only a theory based on connecting two indirectly related reports, the above article and the article below confirming that specific gut bacteria strains produce memory boosting molecules (see"related stories" second article). It might also follow (though not confirmed yet) that the same strains may play a role in preventing, treating Alzheimer’s disease and/or symptoms. Further research would need to connect Lactobacillus, L. reuteri, and additional strains of Lactobacilli that were linked to improved memory might to also similarly improve memory problems among Alzheimer’s patients.
In other research led by Dr. Qin Chuan,Key Laboratory of Human Diseases Comparative Medicine, Ministry of Health, Institute of Medical Laboratory Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CAMS), SCFAs were reduced in mice with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), including amyloid deposits and other abnormalities in AD mouse intestine (3).
1. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-11-link-alzheimer-disease-gut-microbiota.amp; and https://content.iospress.com/articles/journal-of-alzheimers-disease/jad200306;
2. https://content.iospress.com/articles/journal-of-alzheimers-disease/jad200306
3. https://content.iospress.com/articles/journal-of-alzheimers-disease/jad170020
Related stories:
http://www.global-engage.com/life-science/gut-brain-axis-insights-why-the-microbiota-holds-therapeutic-potential-for-neuro-developmental-disorders/
https://en.bloguru.com/healthtech/377424/evidence-of-lactate-producing-gut
https://en.bloguru.com/healthtech/373012/need-more-proof-our-gut-bacteria
https://en.bloguru.com/healthtech/371304/gut-bacteria-strains-found-to-prevent