London
CNN
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3 brains Dolphin Found stranded along the Scottish coast, Alzheimer’s diseaseaccording to new research, offers greater insight into disease in species other than humans.
Findings may also provide possible answers to unexplained problems grounding According to researchers, the number of dolphins along the coast.
Alzheimer’s disease is a common neurodegenerative disease It mainly affects older people and is accompanied by symptoms such as Amnesia, forgetfulness, confusion.
According to a study published Dec. 13, European Journal of NeuroscienceScottish researchers conducted a post-mortem study of the brains of 22 people teethor toothed whales, making their findings more detailed in comparison to others. said the author.
“It’s deeper and broader because it looks at more animals from several different species of cetacean that are known to be aging for that species,” co-author Mark Dagleish said. said. a senior clinician in anatomic pathology at the University of Glasgow told CNN on Tuesday.
Specimens from five species were examined in this study: Risso’s dolphins, crab-like pilot whales, beluga whales, porpoises and bottlenose dolphins. Of the 22 studied, 18 were aged specimens.
“Critically,[it]looked at the whole brain to provide a lesion (abnormality) profile using more markers of Alzheimer’s disease,” Dagleish adds, noting that it was used in human tissue as well. We used the same technique.
Findings showed that three aged dolphins (Tuna, Beluga, and Bottlenose) exhibited brain changes or lesions associated with Alzheimer’s disease in humans.
Tara Spiers Jones Co-authors of another study statement This week, researchers were “intrigued by the similarity of brain changes in aging dolphins to those in humans (aging) and Alzheimer’s disease.”
“Whether these pathological changes contribute to stranding in these animals is an interesting and important question for future research,” said Spiers-Jones. Personal Chair of Neurodegeneration, Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, University of Edinburgh.
The researchers found that the specimens accumulated and formed phosphorylated tau protein and glial cells. amyloid beta plaque, protein clumps found in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. The distribution of these lesions was comparable to brain regions in humans with Alzheimer’s disease, according to the research paper.
Dagleish said the findings are “the closest we’ve been able to show that animals naturally develop lesions associated with Alzheimer’s disease,” which was thought to occur only in humans.
Dentids regularly become stranded on British shores in herds, and the authors of the study may support the ‘disease leader’ theory, in which herds follow an aging leader into shallow waters. says there is.
Similar neuropathology in aged dolphins and humans with Alzheimer’s disease suggests that marine mammals are predisposed to the disease, but a diagnosis can only be made if there is cognitive impairment. Discovered using cognitive impairment assessments, not possible in postmortem studies.
