Scientists May Have Found How Alzheimer's Actually Spreads…

Scientists May Have Found How Alzheimer's Actually Spreads Through the Brain For decades, we've known that Alzheimer's disease progresses as a toxic protein called Tau spreads from one part of the brain to another, damaging neurons along the way. What we haven't known is exactly how Tau makes that journey from a sick neuron to a healthy one. A new study published in Cell, led by researchers at University of Utah Health, may have finally found the answer and it points to a completely new way of thinking about treatment. The discovery: Researchers identified a brain protein called Arc — normally responsible for helping neurons communicate with each other as the unexpected vehicle that toxic Tau uses to travel between cells. Arc packages itself inside tiny membrane-bound sacs called extracellular vesicles, which neurons use to send signals to each other. The study found that toxic Tau hijacks this exact same delivery system. It attaches itself to Arc inside these vesicles a