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Linking stress and senility.


Studies have suggested that emotional stress earl increase a person's risk of developing Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (ăls`hī'mərz, ôls–), degenerative disease of nerve cells in the cerebral cortex that leads to atrophy of the brain and senile dementia. . Now, scientists have found a gene that may explain the connection.

Paul E. Sawchenko of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies The Salk Institute for Biological Studies is an independent, non-profit, scientific research laboratory located in La Jolla, California. It was founded in 1960 by Jonas Salk, M.D., the developer of the polio vaccine.  in La Jolla, Calif., and his colleagues turned their attention to a gene called type I corticotropin-releasing factor corticotropin-releasing factor (korˈ·ti·kō·trōˑ·pin-rē·lēˑ·sing fakˑ·ter),
n
 receptor (CRFR1), because it's widely involved in the brain's responses to stress.

Scientists had shown that mice subjected to extreme stress--whether by forced swimming in cold water, starvation, or heat--develop clumps of insoluble proteins called neurofibrillary tangles Neurofibrillary tangles
Abnormal structures, composed of twisted masses of protein fibers within nerve cells, found in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease.

Mentioned in: Dementia
 in their neurons. Such tangles form, along with plaques, in the brains of Alzheimer's patients.

"We wanted to know if emotional stressors that are much milder and more like the ones people experience every day would have the same effect," says Sawchenko.

To create mild stress, the scientists physically restrained mice in tubes for 30 minutes each day. After 2 weeks, the mice had developed the protein tangles in their brain cells. Mice that hadn't been restrained developed no tangles.

However, mice engineered to lack CRFR1 didn't develop tangles even after being restrain ed, the scientists report in the June 13 Journal of Neuroscience The Journal of Neuroscience (Online ISSN 1529-2401) is a weekly scientific journal published by the Society for Neuroscience. The journal publishes peer-reviewed empirical research articles in the field of neuroscience. .

Several pharmaceutical companies are developing antianxiety drugs Antianxiety Drugs Definition

Antianxiety drugs are medicines that calm and relax people with excessive anxiety, nervousness, or tension, or for short-term control of social phobia disorder or specific phobia disorder.
 that block the protein made by CRFR1, and Sawchenko suggests that researchers might investigate these drugs for use in Alzheimer's patients.--P. B.
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Title Annotation:BIOMEDICINE
Publication:Science News
Date:Jul 7, 2007
Words:225
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