Copper Prevents Deposits of Toxic Proteins in Alzheimer’s Disease

Previous research has shown that copper is one component of the amyloid beta plaques which are found in the brains of people of Alzheimer’s disease.  Christopher Exley, from Keele University (United Kingdom), and colleagues studied the Amyloid Cascade Hypothesis of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), which holds that AD is caused by an aberrant deposition in the brain of amyloid-beta-42 in neuritic or senile plaques. Advancing upon their previous work demonstrating that copper prevents the deposition amyloid-beta-42, the team’s new study shows that copper abolished the structure of preformed amyloid fibrils, thereby suggesting a potentially protective role for copper in AD.   The researchers suggest that:  “Copper may protect against the presence of [amyloid-beta-42 neuritic or senile plaques] in vivo, and … could have implications for Alzheimer’s disease therapy.”