Researchers Look to Old Algae to Combat Alzheimer's

What do algae blooms, British explorers and neurodegenerative diseases have in common? A lot, it turns out.Century-old samples from an Antarctic expedition are helping researchers fighting to find a cure for Alzheimer's and Lou Gehrig's diseases.

Scientists worked with the Natural History Museum in London for over five years to analyze samples of cyanobacteria mats collected in the summer of 1902 by explorer Robert Falcon Scott from ponds and sediment accumulated in the Antarctic.

The samples have been preserved for more than 100 years at the museum in London. After testing them the researchers found the samples contained toxins produced by cyanobacteria, including toxins linked to liver cancer and neurodegenerative diseases.

"We jumped at the chance," one of the researcher said of the collaboration. "We thought, 'Well, we can't lose.' If there are toxins, great. That helps us understand exposure. If not, then it helps with the pollution aspect.

"But it seems like they've always been there and we've always been exposed to them. And it's important for our research to find ways to combat their effects and provide cures for people who may be susceptible to the actions of these toxins," he said.

A Closer Look at Cyanobacteria

This discovery, the result of years of collaboration between scientists, is promising for the future of medicine.

The samples were run through the lab two to three years ago, but the analysis was published recently.

"What drives us is results," he said. "Our only goal is to change patient outcomes."

Alzheimer's is a chronic, progressive neurodegenerative disease that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills. Estimates vary, but experts believe more than 5 million Americans may have Alzheimer's, which is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is also a progressive neurodegenerative disease. It affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, weakening muscles and affecting physical functions.

The discovery of the toxins in the Antarctic samples provides a much-needed baseline for cyanobacterial toxin levels before pollution and climate change, the scientists say.

"What this shows is that there is a background amount of toxin exposure for people," said one of the scientist. "And we're really interested in how that fits into the puzzle because we know that for certain neurological illnesses, there is a background rate. What this puzzle piece suggests is that we've always been exposed to these toxins as people, as human beings."

The low-level exposure to cyanobacteria could account for a low but constant rate of certain diseases. Recent increases in frequency and duration of cyanobacteria blooms may be associated with increases of neurodegenerative diseases, the scientists believe.

They point to Guam ALS/PDC, a disease that presents traits of ALS and Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. As the name suggests, it is found in people living in Guam.

A cyanobacterial toxin, BMAA, found in contaminated traditional foodstuffs appears to trigger the disease, Cox said. The presence of BMAA has been discovered in the brains of those with the disease but not the brains of the control patients who died of causes unrelated to neurodegeneration.

Confirmation of that pattern was found in replicated experiments, showing that chronic dietary exposure resulted in brain tangles and plaques that were chemically, structurally and positionally identical to the people in Guam with ALS/PDC.

These results that were published recently.

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