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- <html>
- <head><title>The problem of Alzheimer's disease as a clue to immortality - Part 1</title></head>
- <body>
- <h1>
- The problem of Alzheimer's disease as a clue to immortality - Part 1
- </h1>
-
- <p>
- I. INTRODUCTION
- </p>
- <p>
- II. COMMON FACTORS IN INJURY DURING GROWTH AND AGING
- </p>
- <p>
- III. A VIEW OF ENTROPY--RENEWAL OF THE BRAIN
- </p>
- <p>
- IV. FALSE SIGNALS FROM THE ENVIRONMENT
- </p>
- <p>
- A. EDUCATION, DIET AND MEDICINE INTERACT
- </p>
-
- <p>
- B. SIGNALS IN THE ABSTRACT
- </p>
- <p>
- V. HORMONE IMBALANCE, LEADING TO FAILURE OF PROTECTIVE INHIBITION AND ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE
- </p>
- <p>
- A. THE FUNCTION OF ENERGY
- </p>
- <p>
- B. EFFECTS OF ESTROGEN AND UNSATURATED FATTY ACIDS
- </p>
- <p>
- C. VITAMIN A AND STEROIDS
- </p>
-
- <p>
- D. THE NATURE OF ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE
- </p>
- <p>
- E. AN EXAMPLE; DIET AFFECTS HORMONES WHICH AFFECT STRUCTURE AND LEAD TO APPARENT SELF- DESTRUCTION
- </p>
- <p>
- VI. STRUCTURE AS A REGULATORY SYSTEM--AN EMERGING VISION OF PERVASIVE EPIGENESIS
- </p>
- <p>
- <strong>I. INTRODUCTION</strong>
- </p>
- <p>
- The toxicity of estrogen and of the unsaturated fats has been known for most of the twentieth century, and
- much has been learned about their interactions in the aging process. The body, during this time, has been
- understood as a dynamic interaction of cellular trophic influences which govern both form and function. My
- argument here will be that some of our adaptive, protective regulatory processes are overridden by the
- excessive supply of unsaturated fats--supported by a few other toxins--in our diet, acting as a false-signal
- system, and that cholesterol, pregnenolone, and progesterone which are our main long-range defenses, are
- overcome by the effects of the unsaturated fats, and that the resulting cascade of ineffective and defective
- reactions (including various estrogen-stimulated processes) leads to lower and lower energy production,
- reduced function, and death. At certain times, especially childhood and old age, iron (which also has
- important regulatory roles) accumulates to the point that its signal functions may be inappropriate.
- </p>
-
- <p>
- It interacts with estrogen and unsaturated fats in ways that can change restraint and adaptation into sudden
- self-destruction, apoptotic cell death. If we look at the human organism from one perspective, it seems
- coherent and intelligible, but from the perspective of established academic biological doctrine, it seems
- appallingly complex, lacking any visible integrating principle, and as a result simplistic mechanical,
- pharmaceutical, or religious ideas are increasingly offered to fill the gap. But experimental data can be
- taken out of the muddle, and put to coherent human use. In what follows, I am acting as though the doctrines
- of genetic determination and regulation by membranes were mere historical relics. The emerging control
- systems are now clear enough that we can begin to use them to reverse the degenerative diseases: Alzheimer's
- dementia, epileptic dementia, arthritis, osteoporosis, depression, hypertension, hardening of the heart and
- blood vessels, diabetes, and some types of tumor, immunodeficiencies, reflex problems, and special atrophic
- problems, including clearing of amyloid and mucoid deposits. I think many people experience regenerative
- age-regressing when many circumstances are just right; for example, taking a trip to the mountains in the
- spring with friends can optimize several basic regulatory systems.
- </p>
- <p>
- <strong>II. COMMON FACTORS IN BRAIN INJURY DURING GROWTH AND AGING
- </strong>
- </p>
- <p>
- Most people are surprised by the number of cells in the prenatal brain, and in the very old brain: In the
- human fetus at 6 months of development, there are about twice as many brain cells as there are at the time
- of birth, and in old age the number of cells in the brain keeps increasing with age, so that at the age of
- 90 the amount of DNA in the brain (36.94 grams) is about 50%.greater than at the age of 16-20 (23.04 grams).
- In the aged brain, glial cells multiply while neurons die. In the fetus, the cells that die are apparently
- nerve cells that haven't yet matured. The factors that are known to reduce the brain size at birth are also
- factors that are involved in the degenerating brain in old age or Alzheimer's disease: lack of oxygen,
- excess unsaturated fats or deficiency of saturated fats, estrogen excess, progesterone deficiency, and lack
- of glucose. A lack of carbon dioxide is probably harmful in both. Inflammation and blood clots may be
- factors in the aging brain, and bleeding with vascular spasm is sometimes a contributing factor to brain
- damage in both the old and the fetal brain. Endotoxemia may be a factor in nerve degeneration only during
- adult life, but it is sometimes present during pregnancy.
- </p>
- <p>
- M. C. Diamond, Enriching Heredity: The Importance of the Environment on the Anatomy of the Brain. Free
- Press, N.Y., 1988. C. Finch and L. Hayflick, Handbook of the Biology of Aging. Van Nostrand Reinhold, N.Y.,
- 1977.
- </p>
- <p>
- <strong>III. A VIEW OF ENTROPY: RENEWAL OF THE BRAIN
- </strong>
- </p>
-
- <p>
- When a fertilized egg is developing into a person, each cell division creates a new environment for the
- daughter cells, to which they adapt. They may run into limits and resistances (sometimes a certain gene
- doesn't meet the need of the situation, or toxins are present, or nutrients and hormones are imperfectly
- supplied), but the process is flexible, and a way is normally found to get around the limitation. The
- embryo's brain development is my favorite example of the ways genes interact with the environment. We might
- think of the "optimal brain development" of a person, or a rat, or a chicken, as something which is clearly
- limited by "the genes." But if rats are given a stimulating environment, each generation gets a slightly
- bigger, slightly more intelligent brain. If rats are treated during pregnancy to increase the amount of
- progesterone, the offspring have bigger brains and learn more efficiently. Still, that might just be
- restoring a condition that was natural for rats in some perfect environment. Chickens develop inside an egg
- shell, and so the nutrients needed for their development are all present when the egg is laid.
- </p>
- <p>
- The brain, like the other organs, stops growing when the food supply is used up. But an experimenter
- (Zamenhof) opened the egg shells at the stage of development when the brain normally stops growing, and
- added glucose, and found that the brain continued growing, producing chickens with bigger brains. The
- "genes" of a chicken, as part of a system, have something to do with the development of that system, but the
- environment existing in and around the organism is able to guide and support the way the system develops.
- The size, complexity, and intelligence of the brain represents a very large part of the "information"
- contained in the organism, and Zamenhof's experiment showed that the ability to realize this potential, to
- create this complexity, comes from the support of the environment, and that the "genetic nature of the
- chicken" didn't constitute a limit to the development of its brain.
- </p>
- <p>
- I am going to argue that Alzheimer's disease is analogous to the situation confronted by the developing
- chicken embryo or the rat or human fetus, when the environment is unable to meet the needs of the highly
- energetic, demanding and sensitive brain cells, and the brain cells begin to die, instead of developing into
- a more complex state, passing beyond various barriers and limitations. There are two stereotypes that are in
- conflict with this view: (1) That the structure of the brain is determined at an early point in life,
- sometimes explicitly stated as the age of 12 or 16, and (2) that the structure of the brain goes into an
- "entropic" deterioration during the process of aging. My position is that the brain cells are in a vital
- developmental process at all times, and that the same things that injure the brain of a fetus also injure
- the brain of an aging person.
- </p>
- <p>
- If novelty is really appearing during development, then it is hard to maintain that "entropy increases"
- during the development of an individual. Isn't a child a richer organization than a fertilized egg? Isn't an
- adult more individualized or realized than an infant? Seen from the inside, our known world gets richer with
- experience. Learning is certainly anti-entropic. Where does the idea of "increasing entropy with living"
- come from? Many things contribute, including a doctrine of genetic determinism, the old Platonic idea of the
- imperfection of the concrete, the unreality of the existent, and the medieval idea of the "corruption of the
- body." These philosophies still motivate some people in aging research. The astrophysicist, N. A. Kozyrev,
- showed that the idea of an "entropic cosmos" derived simply from the assumptions of 19th century deism, "God
- set the clockwork universe in motion, and left it to run down." Early in this century, Raymond Pearl argued
- that the "rate of living" governed the life-span, so that "fast living" meant a short life. He based his
- argument on cantaloupe seeds: the faster they grew, the sooner they died. This was because he didn't give
- them anything but water, so they had to live on their stored energy; if they grew quickly, obviously they
- ran out of stored energy sooner. I have never heard that described as a stupid idea, but I think politeness
- is sometimes carried too far. In the clock analogy, or the seed analogy, the available energy is used up.
- </p>
- <p>
- The clock with its wound-up spring and the seed in a dish of water may be considered as closed systems, and
- we can understand their fate. But if it is foolish to argue from a confined seed to free-living organisms,
- then it is just as foolish to argue from a clock to a cosmos. Unfortunately, these inferences about closed
- systems are often applied to real situations that aren't energetically closed.
- </p>
- <p>
- The "rate of living" theory of aging picked up the idea of aging as a natural physical property of time, and
- gave it expression in mathematical form, arguing (Hershey, "Entropy, basal metabolism and life expectancy,"
- Gerontologia 7, 245-250, 1963) that "the total lifetime entropy production" could be calculated, to give
- insight into "life expectancy and evolutional development." Unfortunately, the equation Hershey used assumed
- that the flow of heat out of the body into the surroundings is reversible. This suggests an image of Dr.
- Frankenstein vivifying his monster with lightning, putting the heat back into the body. If heat is to be
- "put back into the body," it is necessary to make sure that it is appropriate for the structure as it
- exists.
- </p>
- <p>
- Actually, it is just the directed flow of energy which generates the structures. If any biological argument
- can be made from the idea of entropy, it is that it would be extremely difficult to regenerate food, by
- putting heat into a person. In a few situations, it is possible to show that living structures can directly
- absorb heat from their environment (causing the temperature to fall)--"negative heat production"--but the
- exact meaning of this isn't clear. (B. C. Abbott, et al., "The positive and negative heat production
- associated with a nerve impulse," Proc. R. Soc. B 148, 149, 1958; R. D. Keynes and J. M. Ritchie, "The
- initial heat production of amphibian myelinated nerve fibres," Proc. Physiol. Soc., June 1970, page 29P-30P:
- "It is now clear that in both crustacean...and mammalian (Howarth, et al., 1968) non-myelinated fibres there
- is an initial production of heat during (or soon after) the action potential, 80% of which is rapidly
- reabsorbed.") A. I. Zotin ("Aging and rejuvenation from the standpoint of the thermodynamics of irreversible
- processes," Priroda, No. 9, 49-55, 1970), citing the theory of Prigogine-Wiame, argued that the aging
- process involves both a decrease in entropy and a decrease in the rate of heat production.
- </p>
- <p>
- Regeneration involves a production of entropy, as when an egg is formed. (The temperature fluctuation at the
- time of ovulation might make a contribution to the construction of the entropic egg.) The argument that
- aging of the animal (like aging of the cosmos) is governed by "the tendency of entropy to increase" has led
- people to say that rejuvenation would be like unscrambling an egg. Zotin's argument is interesting, because
- he says that an egg is a "scrambled animal." This view is very much like Warburg's and Szent-Gyorgyi's
- theory of cancer, that it is like a reversion to a simpler state of life. To sketch out what I have argued
- in different contexts, water is the part of the living substance that we can most meaningfully discuss in
- terms of entropy. In fact, much of the concept of entropy has derived from the study of water, as it changed
- state in steam engines, etc. Cancer cells, like egg cells, have a higher water content than the
- differentiated, functioning cells of an adult, and the water is less rigidly ordered by the cellular
- molecules. This different, more mobile state of the water, can be measured by the NMR (nuclear magnetic
- resonance) machines which are used for MRI (magnetic resonance imaging).
- </p>
- <p>
- Estrogen has a special place in relation to the water in an organism. It is intimately involved with the
- formation of the egg cell, and wherever it operates, it increases both the quantity of water and,
- apparently, the disorder of the water. Its function, I believe, is to promote regeneration, as in Zotin's
- scheme, by increasing entropy, or "scrambling the animal." The way it promotes regeneration is by promoting
- water uptake, stimulating cell division, and erasing the differentiated state to one degree or another,
- providing a new supply of "stem cells," or cells at the beginning of a certain sequence of differentiation.
- These more numerous cells then must find a hospitable environment in which to develop and adapt. If the
- proper support can't be found, then they will be recycled, like the unfed cells in the brain of a fetus. If
- we imagine the course of development as a summary of evolution ("ontogeny recapitulating phylogeny"), then
- the egg, as it "unscrambles" itself in embryonic development, passing through stages resembling jelly fish,
- worm, fish, reptile, bird, baboon, keeps finding that the available energy allows it to, in effect, say "I
- want this, I don't want that," until it emerges as a human baby, saying "I want," and begins eating and
- learning, and with luck continues the unscrambling, or self-actualization.. Degenerative aging, rather than
- being "physically derived from the properties of time," seems to be produced situationally, by various types
- of contamination of our energy supply. Unsaturated fats, interacting with an excess of iron and a deficiency
- of oxygen or usable energy, redirect our developmental path.
- </p>
- <p>
- The saturated fats, in themselves, seem to have no "signalling" functions, and when they are naturally
- modified by our desaturating enzymes, the substances produced behave very differently from the plant-derived
- "eicosanoids." As far as their effects have been observed, it seems that they are adaptive, rather than
- dysadaptive. All of the factors that affect the brain of a fetus should be examined in relation to the aging
- brain. Besides estrogen and fats, I am thinking of oxygen and carbon dioxide, glucose, iron and calcium,
- cholesterol, progesterone, pregnenolone, DHEA, the endorphins, GABA, thyroid, and vitamin A. An additional
- factor, endotoxin poisoning, eventually tends to intervene during stress and aging, exacerbating the trend
- begun under the influence of the other factors.
- </p>
-
- <p><strong>IV. FALSE SIGNALS FROM THE ENVIRONMENT</strong></p>
- <p>
- The environment can be supportive, but it can also divert development from an optimal course.
- </p>
- <p>
- Passively taking whatever you are given, by history and nature, is entropic; choosing intelligently from
- possible diets, selecting courses of action, will create pattern and reduce entropy. If education contains
- an element of choice and self-actualization, then the results seen in several Alzheimer's studies could have
- a significance larger than what has been suggested by the investigators. A diagnostic bias has been reported
- to result from the use of standardized tests based on vocabulary, because education increases vocabulary,
- and tends to cover up the loss of vocabulary that occurs in dementia. In the Framingham study, it was
- concluded that there was a real association of lower educational level with dementia, but the suggestion was
- made that self-destructive practices such as smoking were more common among the less educated.
- </p>
- <p>
- The Seattle study of the patients in a health maintenance organization showed a very distinct difference in
- educational level between the demented and the non-demented, both of whom had roughly similar frequency of
- prescriptions for estrogen. The features that seemed important to me, that weren't discussed by the authors,
- were that the demented women had a much lower rate of progestogen use, and a much higher incidence of
- hysterectomy, which interferes with natural progesterone production. Although Brenner, et al., in the
- Seattle study concluded that "this study provides no evidence that estrogen replacement therapy has an
- effect on the risk of Alzheimer's disease in postmenopausal women," they reported that "Current estrogen use
- of both the oral and the vaginal routes had odds ratios below 1, while former use of both types yielded odds
- ratios above 1...." (They seem to neglect the fact that Alzheimer's-type disease in old people has a long
- developmental history, so it is precisely the "former" use that is relevent. 31% of the demented women had
- formerly used estrogen, and only 20% of the control group. Since estrogen is a brain excitant, present use
- creates exactly the same sort of effect on verbal fluency and other signs of awareness of the environment
- that a little cocaine does. Anyone who neglects this effect is probably deliberately constructing a
- propaganda study.)
- </p>
-
- <p>
- This observation, that the demented had 155% as much former estrogen use as the normal group, as well as the
- difference in rates of progestogen use (normal patients had 50% more progestogen use than demented) and
- hysterectomy (demented had 44.1% vs. 17% in the normals, i.e., 259% as many; the incidence of hysterectomies
- after the age of 55, which is a strong indication of a natural excess of estrogen, in the demented was 374%
- of the incidence in the non-demented), should call for a larger study to clarify these observatons, which
- tend to indicate that exposure to estrogen in middle-age increases the risk of Alzheimer's disease in old
- age, and that even medical progestogens offer some protection against it..
- </p>
- <p>
- (Although this study might have been bigger and better, it is far better than the junk-studies that have
- been promoted by the pharmaceutical publicity machine. I have seen or heard roughly 100 mentions of the
- pro-estrogen anti-scientific "studies," and none mentioning this one.)
- </p>
- <p>
- D. E. Brenner, et al., Postmenopausal estrogen replacement therapy and the risk of Alzheimer's disease: A
- population-based case-control study," Am. J. Epidemiol. 140, 262-267, 1994. "Women tend to have higher
- age-specific prevalence and incidence rates of Alzheimer's disease than do men." A.F. Jorm, The Epidemiology
- of Alzheimer's disease and related disorders, Chapman and Hall, London, 1990, and W. A. Rocca, et al., Ann.
- Neurol. 30, 381-190, 1991.
- </p>
-
- <p>
- H. C. Liu, et al., "Performance on a dementia screening test in relation to demographic variables--study of
- 5297 community residents in Taiwan," Arch. Neurol. 51(9), 910-915, 1994. "Commonly used dementia screening
- tests may be unfair to poorly educated individuals, especially women and rural residents."
- </p>
- <p>
- <strong>SIGNALS IN THE ABSTRACT</strong>
- </p>
- <p>
- When I taught endocrinology, I annoyed my tidy-minded students by urging them to consider the potential
- hormone-like action of everything in the body, and to think of layers of control, ranging from sugar, salt,
- and carbon dioxide, through the "official hormones," to complex nervous system actions such as expectancy,
- and biorhythms. Certain things that are active in very important processes deserve special attention as
- "signals," but they still have to be understood in context. In this sense, we can think of Ca2+ as a signal
- substance, in its many contexts; it is strongly regulated by the cell's energy charge. Magnesium and sodium
- antagonize it in certain situations. Linoleic acid, linolenic acid, arachidonic acid: Their toxicity is
- potentially prevented by the Mead acids, and their eicosanoid derivatives, which behave very differently
- from the familiar prostaglandins, as far as they have been compared; can be drastically reduced by dietary
- changes. Prostaglandins, prostacyclin, thromboxane: Formation is blocked by aspirin and other
- antiinflammatory drugs.
- </p>
-
- <p>
- Adenosine: Sleep inducing protective effect. Adenosine is structurally very similar to inosine, another
- natural substance (found in meat, for example) which is a component of "inosiplex," an antiviral drug (Brown
- and Gordon, Fed. Proc. 29, 684, 1970, and Can. J. Microbiol. 18, 1463, 1972) or immunostimulant which has
- also been found to have an anti-senility effect (Doty and Gordon, Fed. Proc. 29). Adenosine is a free
- radical scavenger, and protects against calcium and glutamate excitotoxicity. (I. Yokoi, et al., "Adenosines
- scavenged hydroxyl radicals and prevented posttraumatic epilepsy," Free Radical Biol. Med. 19(4), 473-479,
- 1995; M. P. Abbracchio, et al., "Adenosine A(1) receptors in rat brain synaptosomes: Transductional
- mechanisms, efects on glutamate release, and preservation after metabolic inhibition," Drug Develop. Res.
- 35(3), 119-129, 1995.) It also appears to protect against the relative hyperventilation that wastes carbon
- dioxide, and endotoxin can interfere with its protective action. Guanosine, in this same group of
- substances, might have some similar properties. Thymidine and cytidine, which are pyrimidine-based, are
- endogenous analogs of the barbiturates, and like them, they might be regulators of the cytochrome P450
- enzymes. Uridine, in this group, promotes glycogen synthesis, and is released from bacteria in the presence
- of penicillin.
- </p>
- <p>
- Iron: Regulator of mRNA stability, heme synthesis; reacts with reductants and unsaturated oils, to produce
- free radicals and lipid peroxides; its absorption is increased by estrogen, hypothyroidism, anemia or lack
- of oxygen. Glutamate and aspartate, excitotoxins, and GABA, an inhibitory transmitter.
- </p>
-
- <p>
- These have metabolic links with each other, with ammonia, and with stress and energy metabolism.
- </p>
- <p>
- Estrogen and acetylcholine, excitotoxins; see Savolainen, et al., 1994. The information on this is
- overwhelmingly clear, and the publicity to the contrary is a horrifying example of the corruption of the
- mass media by the drug industry.
- </p>
- <p>
- Endorphins: Stress induced, laterally specific, involved in estrogen action, antagonized by naloxone and
- similar anti-opiate drugs. I have proposed that the endorphins can cause or sustain some of the symptoms of
- aging. Naloxone appears to be a useful treatment for senility. E. Roberts, Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 396, 165,
- 1982; B. Reisberg, et al., N. Engl. J. Med. 308, 721, 1983.
- </p>
- <p>
- Endotoxin: Antimitochondrial action, causes elevation of estrogen. It synergizes with unsaturated fats, and
- naloxone opposes some of its toxic effects.
- </p>
-
- <p>
- Urea, cholesterol: Structural stability of proteins and lipid-protein complexes.
- </p>
- <p>
- Things that act directly on the water structure: I think all of the natural regulators have an effect on the
- structure of water, but some unusual substances seem to act primarily on the water. Noble gases, for
- example, have no chemical effects, but they tend to form "cages" of water molecules around themselves.
- Camphor, adamantane, and the antiviral drug amantadine, probably have a similar water-structuring effect,
- and amantadine, which is widely used as a therapy in Parkinson's disease, has an anti-excitotoxic action.
- </p>
-
- <p>
- <a href="http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/alzheimers2.shtml"><strong>Article continued in Part 2 - click
- here</strong></a>
- </p>
-
- <p>
- Raymond Peat, Ph.D.
- </p>
- <p>
- Copyright 1997
- </p>
-
- <p>
- <strong><h3>SELECTED REFERENCES</h3></strong>
- </p>
- <p>
- S. Rose, "Genuine genetics or conceited convenience?" Trends in Neuro. Sci. 17(3), 105, 1994.
- </p>
-
- <p>
- F. P. Monnet, et al., "Neurosteroids, via sigma receptors, modulate the [H3]norepinephrine release evoked by
- N-methyl-D-aspartate in the rat hippocampus," P.N.A.S. (USA) 92(9), 3773-3778, 1995. "...progesterone may
- act as a sigma antagonist."
- </p>
- <p>
- J. L. Sanne and K. E. Krueger, "Expression of cytochrome P450 side-chain cleavage enzyme and 3
- beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase in the rat central nervous system: A study by polymerase chain reaction
- and in situ hybridization," J. of Neurochemistry 65(2), 528-536, 1995.
- </p>
- <p>
- V. V. Zakusov and R. U. Ostrovskaya, "Increased resistance of mice to hypoxia under the influence of
- tranquilizers of the benzodiazepine series," Byulletan Eksperimentalnoy Biologii i Meditsiny 71(2), 45-47,
- 1971. [The protection was not from the sedative effects, "Rather, the protective effect of these compounds
- is attributed to some specific intervention in the metabolism whereby the sensitivity of the tissues to
- oxygen insufficiency is reduced. ...the cortical structures of the brain especially appear to derive
- enhanced resistance to oxygen deficiency."]
- </p>
- <p>
- A. I. Zotin, "Aging and rejuvenation from the standpoint of the thermodynamics of irreversible processes,"
- Priroda 9, 49-55, 1970. [The process of aging "...is manifested by a decrease in entropy and...also by a
- continuous decrease in the rate of heat production.. The organism exhibits two types of approaches to a
- steady state: (i) constitutive movement of the system to the final steady state and (ii) inducible return of
- the system to the current steady state after deviating under the influence of internal or external factors.
- Oogenesis represents a constitutive deviation from the steady state; entropy reaches a level sufficient for
- the start of development and passage of the living system into the state of constitutive approach to the
- final steady state. From the standpoint of the thermodynamic theory of development, oogenesis reflects the
- process of regeneration of the system. In all other stages of life there is only the aging process
- accompanied by a decrease in entropy."
- </p>
- <p>
- M. M. Tikhomirova, et al., "Mechanisms underlying the resistance of genetic material of the animal cell to
- stress treatment," Genetika 30(8), 1092-1104, 1994. "...these studies prove that the formation of a mutation
- is a multistage process involving many cell and organism systems...which are affected by environmental
- factors.... They can hinder or accelerate the mutational process, in this way providing both a superadditive
- effect and adaptive response. Recent studies deal with a universal system of heat shock proteins, which is
- involved in the maintenance of resistance of genetic material and genetic processes in the cell." Gross,
- "Reproductive cycle biochemistry," Fertility & Sterility 12(3), 245-260, 1961. "The maintenance of an
- environment conducive to anaerobic metabolism--which may involve the maintenance of an adequate supply of
- the substances that permit anaerobiosis...seems to depend primarily upon the action of estrogen."
- "Glycolytic metabolism gradually increases throughout the proliferative phases of the cycle, reaching a
- maximum coincident with the ovulation phase, when estrogen is at a peak. Following this, glycolysis
- decreases, the respiratory mechanisms being more active during the secretory phase. Eschbach and Negelein
- showed the metabolism of the infantile mouse uterus to be less anaerobic than that of the adult. If estrogen
- is administered, however, there is a 98 per cent increase in glycolytic mechanisms.""The effect of the
- progestational steroids may be such as to interfere with the biochemical pattern required for support of
- this anaerobic environment."
- </p>
- <p>
- M. A. G. Sissan, et al., "Effects of low-dose oral contraceptive oestrogen and progestin on lipid
- peroxidation in rats," J. of International Med. Res. 23(4), 272-278, 1995. "The levels of lipid peroxides,
- free fatty acids and glutathione in the liver, and of serum ceruloplasmin increased significantly with
- oestrogen treatment. Lipid peroxides (in the liver only), and serum ceruloplasmin decreased significantly
- when progestin was administered. The activities of superoxide dismutase and catalase decreased significantly
- in the oestrogen group...but increased in the progestin group."
- </p>
-
- <p>
- A. Jendryczko, et al., "Effects of two low-dose oral contraceptives on erythrocyte superoxide dismutase,
- catalase and glutathione peroxidase activities," Zentralbl. Gynakol. (Germany) 115(11), 469-472, 1993.
- "These data suggest that low-dose oral contraceptives, by decreasing the activities of antioxidant enzymes
- and by enhancing the lipid peroxidation, increase the risk of cardiovascular disease."
- </p>
- <p>
- J. W. Olney, "Excitotoxins in foods," Neurotoxicology 15(3), 535-544, 1994. "The most frequently encountered
- food excitotoxin is glutamate which is commercially added to many foods despite evidence that it can freely
- penetrate certain brain regions and rapidly destroy neurons by hyperactivating the NMDA subtype of glutamate
- receptor."
- </p>
- <p>
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- calcium-mobilizing receptors, acetylcholine, through G-proteins, stimulates phospholipase C and cause the
- hydrolysis of a membrane phospholipid...." "Inositol-1,4,5-triphosphate is important in cholinergic neuronal
- stimulation, and injury. Cholinergic agonists cause tonic-clonic convulsions which may be either transient
- or persistent. Even short-term cholinergic convusions may be associated with neuronal injury, especially in
- the basal forebrain and the hippocampus. Cholinergic-induced convulsions also elevate levels of brain
- calcium which precede neuronal injury. Female sex and senescence increase the sensitivity of rats to
- cholinergic excitotoxicity." "Furthermore, glutamate increases neuronal oxidative stress...."
- </p>
- <p>
- L. N. Simanovskiy and Zh. A. Chotoyev, "The effect of hypoxia on glycogenolysis and glycolysis rates in the
- rat brain," Zhurnal Evolyutsionnoy Biokhimii i Fiziologii 6(5), 577-579, 1970. "Glycogenolysis and
- glycolysis in the whole brain of young and old rats were studied at sea level and under hypoxic conditions
- in a low-pressure chamber or at an altitude of 3,200 meters. The rate of carbohydrate metabolism increaased
- during postnatal development. In the absence of hypoxia, the rate of accumulation of lactate from either
- glycogen or glucose increases with maturation of the animals. The brain of young rats consumes primarily
- glycogen, particularly under anaerobic conditions." "Adaptation of mature rats to intermittent hypoxia is
- related to an increase in glycolysis, whereas adaptation of rats to high altitudes results in an increase in
- glycogenolysis. The type of carbohydrate metabolism is thus similar to the metabolism characteristic of the
- early stages of ontogenesis."
- </p>
-
- <p>
- Ye. Sadovskiy, "For the prolongation of human life," Sovetskaya Belorussiya 23, page 4, Dec. 1970. "...the
- accumulation of metals in the organism with age is one of the most important factors in the development of
- the aging process."
- </p>
- <p>
- Cerebral ischemia (and several other imbalances, relating to steroid regulation, shock) might be relieved by
- naloxone: D. S. Baskin and Y. Hosobuchi, Lancet ii, 272-275, 1981.
- </p>
- <p>
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- type," Chronobiol. Int. 12(1), 37-45, 1995. "...circadian rhythm of SDAT may be more often unimodal than
- that of normal subjects of similar age, and that phase shift of the endogenous, clock-mediated component of
- the rhythm (with higher heart rate at night) is to be expected in a proportion of individuals with SDAT."
- </p>
-
- <p>
- M. Martinez, et al., "Glucose deprivation increases aspartic acid release from synaptosomes of aged mice,"
- Brain Res. 673(1), 149-152, 1995. "...in the absence of glucose in the medium of incubation aspartate and
- glutamate release was higher in old than in young animals." "...there is an age-dependent dysfunction in
- this process linked to energy metabolism disturbance."
- </p>
- <p>
- J. M. Pasquini and A. M. Adamo, "Thyroid hormones and the central nervous system," Dev. Neurosci. 12(1-2),
- 1-8, 1994. "Among their actions, T3 and T4 have effects on the differentiation of various cell types in the
- rat brain and cerebellum as well as on the process of myelination. Recently, several investigators have
- shown effects of thyroid hormones on myelin protein gene expression."
- </p>
- <p>
- G. C. Ness and Z. H. Zhao, "Thyroid hormone rapidly induces hepatic LDL receptor mRNA levels in
- hypophysectomized rats," Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 315(1), 199-202, 1994.
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- Alzheimer's disease postmortem brain tissue. A deficiency in this key energy-metabolizing enzyme could lead
- to a reduction in energy stores and thereby contribute to the neurodegenerative process."
- </p>
- <p>
- G. J. Bu, et al., "Subcellular localization and endocytic function of low density lipoprotein
- receptor-related protein in human glioblastoma cells," J. Biol. Chem. 269(47), 29874-29882, 1994. "Our
- results thus strongly suggest several potential roles for LRP in brain protein and lipoprotein metabolism,
- as well as control of extracellular protease activity."
- </p>
- <p>
- V. Vandenbrouck, et al., "The modulation of apolipoprotein E gene expression by 3,3'-5-triiodothyronine in
- HepG(2) cells occurs at transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels," Eur. J. Biochem. 224(2), 463-471,
- 1994. "...thyroid hormone stimulated apoE gene transcription threefold in 24 hours."
- </p>
-
- <p>
- T. Yamada, et al., "Apolipoprotein E mRNA in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease," J. Neurol.
- Sci. 129(1), 56-61, 1995. In A.D. Apo E "was decreased in relation to the apoE-epsilon 4 gene dosage." "AD
- patients who had long survival times showed high expression of apoE and low expression of GFAP [glial
- fibrillary acidic protein]. These results suggest that apoE suppresses the progression of AD, including
- gliosis, in the brain."
- </p>
- <p>
- G. P. Jarvik, et al., "Genetic influences on age-related change in total cholesterol, low density
- lipoprotein-cholesterol, and triglyceride levels: Longitudinal apolipoprotein E genotype effects," Genet.
- Epidemiol. 11(4), 375-384, 1994. "Apo E is a component of LDL, is a ligand for the LDL receptor, and apo E
- genotype has been consistently associated with variation in mean levels of total cholesterol and LDL-C...."
- With aging, total cholesterol and LDL-C became significantly lower in the "epsilon 4 genotype" group; this
- is the group at risk for AD.
- </p>
- <p>
- S. Miller and J. M. Wehner, "Cholesterol treatment facilitates spatial learning performance in DBA/2Ibg
- mice," Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior 49(1) 257-261, 1994. "Our results suggest that subchronic
- treatment with the steroid hormone precursor, cholesterol, enhances spatial learning performance in DBA
- mice."
- </p>
- <p>
- A. D. Roses, "Apolipoprotein E affects the rate of Alzheimer disease expression: beta-amyloid burden is a
- secondary consequence dependent on ApoE genotype and duration of disease," J. Neuropathol. Exp. Neurol.
- 53(5), 429-437, 1994.
- </p>
-
- <p>
- T. Gunther and V. Hollriegl, "Increased protein oxidation by magnesium deficiency and vitamin E depletion,"
- Magnesium-Bull. 16(3), 101-103, 1994.
- </p>
- <p>
- F. Oyama, et al., "Apolipoprotein E genotype, Alzheimer's pathologies and related gene expression in the
- aged population," Mol. Brain Res. 29(1), 92-98, 1995. "...ApoE4/4 accelerates and ApoE2/3 decelerates the
- development of the AD pathologies in the aged brain...."
- </p>
-
- <p>
- M. L. C. Maatschieman, et al., "Microglia in diffuse plaques in hereditary cerebral hemorrhage with
- amyloidosis (Dutch). An immunohistochemical study," J. Neuropathol. Exp. Neurol. 53(5), 483-491, 1994.
- "Microglia are intimately associated with congophilic plaques in Alzheimer's disease...." "Intensely
- immunoreactive microglia with enlarged cell bodies and short, thick processes clustered in congophilic
- plaques."
- </p>
- <p>
- J. Poirier, "Apolipoprotein E in animal models of CNS injury and in Alzheimer's disease," Trends Neurosci.
- 17(12), 525-530, 1994. "The coordinated expression of ApoE and its receptor...[low density lipoprotein
- (LDL)] receptor, appears to regulate the transport of cholesterol and phospholipids during the early and
- intermediate phases of the reinnervation process." "...a dysfunction of the lipid-transport system
- associated with compensatory sprouting and synaptic remodeling could be central to the AD process."
- </p>
-
- <p>
- P. H. Chan and R. A. Fishman, "Brain edema: Induction in cortical slices by polyunsaturated fatty acids,"
- Science 201, 358-369, 1978. "This cellular edema was specific, since neither saturated fatty acids nor a
- fatty acid containing a single double bond had such effect." R. Nogues, et al., "Influence of nutrition,
- thyroid hormones, and rectal temperature on in-hospital mortality of elderly patients with acut illness," Am
- J Clin Nutr 61(3), 597-602, 1995. "Serum albumin, body weight, and total T3 concentration were higher in
- survivors than in nonsurvivors." "Mild hypothermia was a good predictor of death. Hypoalbuminemia and
- hypothermia were associated with low T3 and high rT3 values."
- </p>
- <p>
- R. C. Vannucci, et al., "Carbon dioxide protects the perinatal brain from hypoxic-ischemic damage: An
- experimental study in the immature rat," Pediatrics 95(6), 868-874, 1995.
- </p>
-
- <p>
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- Alzheimer type (SDAT)", Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 396, 119-129, 1982. "...one would expect that the chronic
- "flooding" of the neuronal elements with serum proteins would affect their performance." "The cause of the
- increased BBB permeability in SDAT is unknown."
- </p>
- <p>
- J. S. Jensen, et al., "Microalbuminuria reflects a generalized transvascular albumin leakiness in clinically
- healthy subjects," Clin. Sci. 88(6), 629-633, 1995. "It is suggested that the observed transvascular
- leakiness, in addition,may cause increased lipid insudation to the arterial walls."
- </p>
-
- <p>
- C. Nilsson, et al., "The nocturnal increase in human cerebrospinal fluid production is inhibited by a
- beta(1)-receptor antagonist," Amer. J. Physiol.-Regul. Integr. C 36(6), R1445-R1448, 1994.
- </p>
- <p>
- D. L. Williams, et al., "Cell surface 'blanket' of apolipoprotein E on rat adrenocortical cells," J. Lipid
- Res. 36(4), 745-758, 1995. "...the zona fasciculata cell is encircled or covered with apoE on all faces of
- the cell. ...this cell surface 'blanket' of apoE participates in the uptake of lipoprotein cholesterol by
- either the endocytic or selective uptake pathways." C. A. Frye and J. D. Sturgis, "Neurosteroids affect
- spatial reference, working, and long-term memory of female rats," Neurobiol. Learn. Memory 64(1), 83-96,
- 1995. [Female rats take longer to acquire a spatial task during behavioral estrus.)]
- </p>
- <p>
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- Neuroendocrinol 16(3), 224-236, 1995. [Discusses the GABA(A) receptor active steroids, and the accumulation
- of pregnenolone in the brain.]
- </p>
- <p>
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- Steroid Biochem. Mol. Biol. 53(1-6), 355-360, 1995. [Discusses the effects of pregnenolone and progesterone
- on aggression and learning. The animals which learned most easily had the highest levels of pregnenolone
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- 2067-2075, 1994. "...excitatory amino acids such as glutamate are involved in the pathophysiological cascade
- of MPTP...-induced neuronal cell death." "The 1-amino-adamantanes amantadine and memantine have recently
- been shown to be non-competitive NMDA antagonists and are widely used in Europe as antiparkinsonian agents."
- </p>
- <p>
- R. A. Wallis, et al., "Glycine-induced CA1 excitotoxicity in the rat hippocampal slice," Brain Res. 664(1-2)
- 115-125, 1994. K. Ossawska, "The role of excitatory amino acids in experimental models of Parkinson's
- disease," J. Neural Transm.-Parkinsons 8(1-2_, 39-71, 1994.
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- and aging," Trends Neurosci. 18, 203-206, 1995. "Reconstituted lipid membranes from cortical gray matter of
- AD brain samples were significantly thinner (that is, had less microviscosity) than corresponding
- age-matched controls." "This change in membrane width correlated with a 30% decrease in the moles of
- cholesterol:phospholipid." "Addition of cholesterol restored the membrane width to that of the age-matched
- control samples."
- </p>
- <p>
- T. Reed, et al., "Lower cognitive performance in normal older adult male twins carrying the apolipoprotein E
- epsilon 4 allele," Arch. Neurol. 51(12), 1189-1182, 1994.
- </p>
- <p>
- S.Y. Tan and M. B. Pepys, "Amyloidosis," Histopathology 25(5), 403-414, 1994. "...abnormal protein fibrils
- which are derived from different proteins in different forms of the disease. Asymptomatic amyloid deposition
- in a variety of tissues is a universal accompaniment of ageing, and clinical amyloidosis is not rare.
- Intracerebral and cerebrovascular beta-protein amyloid deposits are a hallmark of the pathology of ...
- Alzheimer's disease...." "Amyloid deposits are in a state of dynamic turnover and can regress if new fibril
- formation is halted." A. V. Sirotkin, "Direct influence of melatonin on steroid, nonapeptide hormones, and
- cyclic nucleotide secretion by granulosa cells isolated from porcine ovaries," J. Pineal Res. 17(3),
- 112-117, 1994. "It was found that melatonin is able to inhibit progesterone and stimulate estradiol
- secretion." "Some inhibition of vasopressin and cAMP and significant stimulation of cGMP also resulted from
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- reverse flow of genetic information," Ann. Rev. Biochem. 55, 631-661, 1986. I. Zs.-Nagy, "Semiconduction of
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- assumption, the continuous radical flux is as important for the maintenance of the living state, as the
- voltage power supply is essential for the functioning of the computer."
- </p>
-
- <p>
- <a href="http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/alzheimers2.shtml"><strong>Article continued in Part 2 - click
- here</strong></a>
- </p>
- <strong>
- <p>
- © Ray Peat 2006. All Rights Reserved. www.RayPeat.com
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