Blocking a protein curbs memory loss in old mice: study

https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2019/05/blocking-protein-curbs-memory-loss-in-old-mice.html

by LinuxBender • 7 years ago

93 31 7 years ago

med.stanford.edu

From https://www.jax.org/news-and-insights/jax-blog/2017/november...

it appears that old mice are 18-24 months old. While mouse models in general are hard to apply to humans, I would guess that applying "old" mouse models to "old" humans is likely to be even harder.

hirundo• 7 years ago

Impeding VCAM1, a protein that tethers circulating immune cells to blood vessel walls, enabled old mice to perform as well on memory and learning tests as young mice ... it subdued the inflammatory mood of the brain’s resident immune cells

So this suggests: ↓ inflammation = ↑ memory. In the short term inflammation generally impedes function, so this is an intuitively reasonable result.

pfd1986• 7 years ago

Specially in light of recent correlations found between inflammation and all sorts of diseases including neurodegenerative ones, previously discussed on HN: https://harvardmagazine.com/2019/05/inflammation-disease-die...

caprese• 7 years ago

I always wonder if this is a design flaw, or if there is another completely worse state that the body is trying to prevent happening, a state we don't even know about until we have "cured" inflammation and all these other diseases

sort of like how we wouldn't be studying a lot of this stuff right now if such a large portion of the population hadn't gotten so old

sametmax2• 7 years ago

But wouldn't it expose the brain to dangers the immune system is design to protect it against ?

scotty792• 7 years ago

Yeah, probably you'd want to avoid meningitis if you have the protein snipped.

On the other hand you might want to avoid meningitis either way.

jonhendry18• 7 years ago

Before people start eating extreme low protein diets, that should be "Blocking a protein".

notadev• 7 years ago

I would probably have been one of those people. Thank for you clarifying.

thrower1232• 7 years ago

Also, there is the whole "in mice" bit.

One of the more valuable science twitter accounts to follow is the one that that just retweets every sensationally misleading pop-sci headline that ends up being based on rodent studies with an all-caps IN MICE! comment.

pazimzadeh• 7 years ago

Trendy, yes. Valuable, not sure. Maybe to keep track of the bleeding edge of basic research. This is much better news than the headline "Nothing we do seems to affect memory loss in mice." It means we're starting to understand how memory works at a molecular level in mammals.

dang• 7 years ago

Ok, we put an "a" and a "study" in the title above.

newnewpdro• 7 years ago

I agree the title was misleading.

But wanted to mention that protein consumption and the associated IGF-1 hormone have been linked with increased cancer rates among other age-related ailments.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3988204/

leptoniscool• 7 years ago

Are there any foods we can eat to lower inflammation in general?

bad_user3• 7 years ago

The study was done on mice and the metabolism of mice is different from ours.

In humans refined carbohydrates and hyper-processed food in general (which includes hyper-processed meat) contributes the most to inflammation.

Aromasin2• 7 years ago

There's growing research to say that eating any meat (specifically red meat) increases inflammation. Among other things, it elevates levels of C-Reactive protein, which the liver makes when there is inflammation in the body.[1]

Another studied suggests that meat intake increases levels of arachidonic acid, which is another mediator in inflammation and aging.[2]

Those are just a couple of studies. There are plenty more where they came from. I highly suggest reading 'How Not to Die' by Dr. Michael Greger, to all those that are interested in way of reducing inflammation in the body. The book is incredibly well referenced, and a joy to read. [3]

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24284436

[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28146136

[3] https://www.amazon.com/How-Not-Die-Discover-Scientifically/d...

hudbuddy• 7 years ago

I have been researching this as a hobby for several months now and have landed on a few "truths" which I will hold dear to me.

- The average human needs far more Omega-3 and far less Omega-6. Supplements of Omega-3 have been proven to help with inflammation (and heart disease, et al).

- Supplementing Omega-3 through fish oil or algae oil, etc. is proven to be effective, in a world where often times supplementation is not a substitute for diet.

- The Western world is less enraptured by spices and vegetables that are proven to reduce inflammation. I know this addresses your question, but does not answer it - there are many foods of this category. Turmeric, ginger, and maqui come to mind. This is one of many considerations for our higher prevalence of heart disease.

- Supplementing extracts of anti-inflammatory/antioxidant plants has been shown to improve oxidative status in controlled studies.

- Diets low in carbohydrates have been shown to reduce inflammation.

^ I would share links, but I have hundreds of bookmarks and I wouldn't really know where to begin. I'd suggest just starting with searches on Pubmed or other scientific bodies and letting your exploration grow organically. It's a bit of a journey of understanding, and a whole lot of "what seems to make sense". Much of this stuff can not be proven except through trial - the fact of the matter is that there are too many intricacies, unless you care to devote your life to understanding it.

There are sure to be a lot of surprises in terms of what we have taken as truths, along with their dubious conceptions.

You might find studies that are counter to what I've stated, or it might be that your body composition doesn't respond as impactfully to these things as mine has. I am open entirely open to the idea that there are misfires in much of the research I have held dear. Only within the past few years has there been a concerted push toward studies on low-carb diets and the effects of inflammation, but they generally seem to point to these very important truths.

I am crusading a bit because I've been struggling with depression and anxiety my entire life - it took 27 years for me to consider that my diet might be the culprit, and with these changes I have an entirely new outlook on life. I understand that not everyone has these battles, and so do not need to seek these solutions.

But for those that do or must, it's been such a dramatic shift that I hope they will find hope in a possibility, that through research they can find a solution of their own. I never imagined that my mental health could be so influenced by my diet.

As they say (and which I never truly acknowledged): Your gut is a second brain.

mmerlin• 7 years ago

turmeric, ginger, basil, sage, rosemary

Blocking a protein curbs memory loss in old mice: study

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