Alzheimer is a neurological disease that is a type of dementia. Even people with no health problems experience loss of brain cells as they age. In individuals with Alzheimer's, the loss of brain cells is greater and progressive, and the loss is very rapid. Alzheimer's develops due to the accumulation of abnormal beta-amyloid protein in nerve cells in the brain and becomes unable to be removed from the brain tissue. This protein, which accumulates in the brain, prevents brain cells from connecting with each other. As a result, the connection between brain cells breaks and as a result, nerve cells in the brain begin to die. The rapid death of brain cells causes the brain to shrink and therefore decrease in volume. The disease, which affects the person's consciousness over time, causes mild forgetfulness at first. Then, this degree of forgetfulness gradually increases.
As the average age of the population increases, it is estimated that the number of individuals with Alzheimer's disease and the associated socioeconomic burden will increase. While aging and natural genetic predisposition play an important role in the onset of Alzheimer's; It is caused by factors such as lifestyle, physical fitness, medical condition and social environment. These environmental risk factors can play an important role in accelerating or slowing the onset and progression of the disease.
Alzheimer's disease is also associated with toxic chemicals of industrial origin. Industrial processes can cause airborne pollution such as fine dust, water and soil contamination. Heavy metals in processes are one of the main environmental pollutants. Heavy metals, in particular, are seriously toxic to the nervous system. In a few studies; Researchers have highlighted the toxicity of heavy metals such as lead, mercury, and cadmium as a cause of neurofibrillary tangles, aggregation of amyloid beta peptides, as well as neuronal cell loss.
A case-control study was conducted with 170 Alzheimer's patients and 264 control patients from the Department of Neurology and Family Medicine, China Medical University Hospital in Taiwan. The aim was to compare the rates of heavy metals found in whole blood and urine tests in individuals with Alzheimer's disease compared to healthy individuals. (Cadmium, lead, mercury, selenium and arsenic in the urine were tested.) Alzheimer's Cadmium, lead and mercury were found to be higher in the blood of affected individuals compared to the control group, and selenium was found to be much lower than required. There was no significant difference between individuals with Alzheimer's disease and the control group in the amount of arsenic found in urine.
In a study conducted with rats in 2018; The rats were given a mixture of aluminum, cadmium and fluoride orally regularly. This heavy metal mixture was given for 3 months, and then berberine was given for 1 month. It has been determined that excessive intake of heavy metals increases the accumulation of β-amyloid protein and hyperphosphorylated tau proteins, which create the risk of Alzheimer's. This caused an Alzheimer's-like neurological disease in rats. Berberine has been found to have a protective effect against memory impairment caused by heavy metals. Available data support the beneficial effect of berberine as a therapeutic modality for Alzheimer's disease through its antioxidant mechanism.
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