As you know, new research is constantly testing theories about Alzheimer’s disease and new ideas are always popping up.  One of the most interesting and current theories is that a senior’s immune system may be the culprit in causing dementia.
To discover this, scientists had to start at the very beginning:  infancy.  They noticed that when the brain was forming in babies, it often created too many connections.  When certain connections were determined to not be needed, the immune system would send out a set of special proteins to eliminate them.  This keeps the baby’s brain working smoothly as he grows and learns.
The problem lies when this system of eliminating connections erroneously begins again in old age.  The researchers surmise that this process of the immune system sending proteins to destroy bits of the brain is what is happening in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.
This is exciting news, as new drugs are already in the works to slow down the certain proteins from attaching to areas of the brain.  Not only could this help dementia, but the medications could also positively affect Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, and multiple sclerosis.  Certainly, the medical community hopes that they are on to something that will soon find the cure to these conditions.
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