Alzheimer's May Be Diabetes-Like Illness

Rats without insulin in brain developed symptoms, researchers report

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

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FRIDAY, March 24 (HealthDay News) -- Giving more weight to the notion that Alzheimer's may be a diabetes-like disease, researchers say rats depleted of insulin in the brain went on to develop an Alzheimer's-like illness.

By depleting insulin and its related proteins in the rodent's brains, the researchers say they have been able to replicate the progression of Alzheimer's disease. This included amyloid plaque deposits, neurofibrillary "tangles," impaired cognitive functioning, cell loss, and overall brain deterioration. All of these are characteristic of Alzheimer's disease.

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"True Alzheimer's disease is a kind of insulin resistance in the brain," concluded lead researcher Dr. Suzanne M. de la Monte, a neuropathologist at Rhode Island Hospital and a professor of pathology and clinical neuroscience at Brown Medical School, in Providence, R.I.

She called the study "very exciting," adding that it "leads to new concepts of how to treat the disease."

According to the researchers, the study demonstrates that Alzheimer's is a brain-specific disorder, distinct from other types of diabetes, such as the inherited form, type 1, and obesity-linked type 2. "This study shows that Alzheimer's is a [new] type of diabetes," de la Monte said. "It's type 3 diabetes."

Other experts remained unconvinced, however.

"To date, the construct that Alzheimer's is type 3 diabetes remains largely unsupported," said Dr. Sam Gandy, chairman of the Medical and Scientific Advisory Council at the Alzheimer's Association and director of the Farber Institute for Neurosciences at Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia.

The report appears in the March issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.

According to de la Monte, a loss of insulin in the brain may trigger Alzheimer's onset because brain cells need insulin to function and survive. When this happens, oxidative stress increases, the brain deteriorates, and there is loss of cognitive function, plus a buildup of plaques and tangles in the brain, she said.

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