Antioxidant Compound MitoQ Could Delay Onset of Alzheimer’s
Now, a study has shown that an antioxidant can delay the onset of all the indicators of Alzheimer’s disease, including cognitive decline. The researchers administered an antioxidant compound called MitoQ to mice genetically engineered to develop Alzheimer’s.
According to the Alzheimer’s Society, more than 5 million Americans currently suffer from the neurodegenerative disease. Without successful prevention, almost 14 million Americans will have Alzheimer’s by 2050, accounting for healthcare costs of more than $1 trillion a year.
Oxidative stress is believed to cause neurons in the brain to die, resulting in Alzheimer’s.
“The brain consumes 20 percent of the oxygen in the body even though it only makes up 5 percent of the volume, so it’s particularly susceptible to oxidative stress,” said study author James Franklin, coauthor of the study along with Meagan McManus.
The researchers hypothesized that antioxidants administered unsuccessfully by other researchers to treat Alzheimer’s were not concentrated enough in the mitochondria of cells. Mitochondria are structures within cells that have many functions, including producing oxidative molecules that damage the brain and cause cell death.
“MitoQ selectively accumulates in the mitochondria,” said McManus.”It is more effective for the treatment to go straight to the mitochondria, rather than being present in the cell in general,” she said.
In their study, mice engineered to carry three genes associated with familial Alzheimer’s were tested for cognitive impairment using the Morris Water Maze, a common test for memory retention. The mice that had received MitoQ in their drinking water performed significantly better than those that didn’t. Additionally, the treated mice tested negative for the oxidative stress, amyloid burden, neural death and synaptic loss associated with Alzheimer’s.
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