Image: Gerald Slota
In Brief
- A recent wave of research has unveiled an important environmental player in the genesis of neurodegenerative disease: stress.
- Pairs of identical twins developed Alzheimer’s disease in concert only 40 percent of the time, showing that factors other than genetics must contribute to the disorder.
- Stress seems to impede the ability of certain brain cells to recover from insults, triggering or aggravating the symptoms of disorders such as Parkinson’s.
In 2007 Nobel laureate James Watson eyed his genome for the very first time. Through more than 50 years of scientific and technological advancement, Watson saw the chemical structure he once helped to unravel now pieced into a personal genetic landscape that lay before him.
There was one small stretch of DNA on chromosome 19, however, that he chose to leave under wraps. That region coded for the apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene. Since the early 1990s APOE has been a telling genetic marker of Alzheimer’s risk: certain forms of it correlate strongly with the development of the disease. Watson’s grandmother suffered from Alzheimer’s, but without any reasonable treatments or proved preventive strategies, the discoverer of the double helix decided the information was too volatile, its revelation creating more potential harm than good.
This article was originally published with the title Strain on the Brain.
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1 Comments
Add CommentIn technological era everybody living stressful life.Why some people living healthy life?I don't believed this kind of superficial research.Why some researchers draw a conclusion so hurriedly?I they want money and prestige?There are many carriers in which these so called researcher can earn money and prestige vary easily,why they are carrying this burden some work in science and making fool to people?This is a immoral business.
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