Protein Tweak May Trigger Alzheimer's
        Scientists have caught tiny amounts of a strangely shaped protein spreading destruction throughout the brains of mice. If a similar process happens in the human brain, it could help explain how Alzheimer's starts, and even suggest new ways to stop the dangerous molecule's spread. It is thought that the abundance of the molecule A-beta in the brain is one of the key steps to developing the disease. A-beta commonly takes the form of a chain of 42 protein amino acids. The new study chronicles the dangers of a modified A-beta that lacks the first two amino acids in the chain. Capping this stub is a rare, circular amino acid called pyroglutamate. Even trace amounts of this version, called pyroglutamylated A-beta, or pE A-beta, are devastating to mouse nerve cells. Scientists think that this discovery may have uncovered one of the first steps in a long disease process.
        The article relates to our studies because it is talking about the nervous system, in particular nerve cells. In class we learned about the importance of the nerve cells in the nervous system. The article is saying that the abundance of the protein pyroglutamate is devastating to the nerve cells. This is going to help scientists be able to detect people who are developing Alzheimer's which we also learned about in class. This article is showing that the the devastation of nerve cells by the pyroglutamate protein could be the starting sign of Alzheimer's. In class we also learned about how bad Alzheimer's is, and that any information that we can get about this complicated disease can help the scientists uncover the truth about this horrible disease.
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/340386/title/Protein_tweak_may_trigger_Alzheimer’s