研究:白天過度打盹可能是老年癡呆癥的早期征兆

研究:白天過度打盹可能是老年癡呆癥的早期征兆

Needing to nap could be an early warning sign of Alzheimer’s disease, according to new research.

根據(jù)一項新的研究，需要午睡可能是老年癡呆癥的早期預(yù)警信號。

Experts found that the brain cells that keep us awake during the day are among the first to be targeted by the neurological disease.

專家們發(fā)現(xiàn)，讓我們白天保持清醒的腦細胞，是神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)疾病的第一個目標。

It was previously thought the cells were destroyed by a protein called beta-amyloid, but scientists have now concluded the culprit is toxic clumps of a protein called tau.

以前人們認為這些細胞被一種叫做β-淀粉樣蛋白的蛋白質(zhì)破壞了，但現(xiàn)在科學(xué)家已經(jīng)得出結(jié)論，罪魁禍首是一種叫做tau的有毒蛋白質(zhì)團塊。

They say the discovery could lead to earlier diagnosis when drugs and lifestyle changes are more likely to work and may also lead to better treatments.

他們說，這一發(fā)現(xiàn)可以讓病癥更早診斷，并因藥物和生活方式的介入，而獲得更好的治療效果及生活改善。

Regular dozing in patients has been reported by both researchers and caregivers long before their memory problems begin to unfold.

早在病人的記憶問題開始顯現(xiàn)之前，研究人員和護理人員就已經(jīng)報道過病人經(jīng)常打瞌睡。

But it was unclear if disturbed sleep put people at risk of Alzheimer’s — or if disease-related brain changes lead to it.

但是，目前還不清楚睡眠障礙是否會使人們患上老年癡呆癥——或者是與疾病相關(guān)的大腦改變導(dǎo)致了老年癡呆癥。

The team at the University of California at San Francisco analyzed the brains of 13 deceased patients who had Alzheimer’s disease at the time of death.

舊金山加利福尼亞大學(xué)的研究小組，分析了13名死于阿爾茨海默氏癥的患者的大腦。

They found the three brain areas that boost wakefulness — the locus coeruleus, lateral hypothalamic area and tuberomammillary nucleus — had lost as many as 75 percent of their neurons.

他們發(fā)現(xiàn)，大腦中促進覺醒的三個區(qū)域——藍斑、下丘腦外側(cè)區(qū)和下丘腦結(jié)節(jié)核——已經(jīng)失去了多達75%的神經(jīng)元。

They also had a significant buildup of tau. The results are significant as they could lead to better treatments by targeting tau instead of beta-amyloid.

他們也有大量tau蛋白的積累。這一結(jié)果很有意義，因為它們可以通過靶向tau蛋白，而不是β-淀粉樣蛋白來實現(xiàn)更好的治療。

It also provides a reason for the regular dozing reported by Alzheimer’s patients and their caregivers, long before the development of memory problems. The research was published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia.

它也為老年癡呆癥患者和他們的護理者報告提供了一個規(guī)律，早在記憶問題發(fā)展之前，病人就經(jīng)常性打盹。這項研究發(fā)表在《老年癡呆癥》上。

Lead author Dr. Jun Oh, based at the Memory and Ageing Centre at UCSF, said: “It is remarkable because it is not just a single brain nucleus that is degenerating, but the whole wakefulness-promoting network.

研究報告的主要撰寫者、加州大學(xué)舊金山分校記憶與衰老中心的Oh Jun博士說:“這很了不起，因為不僅僅是一個單一的大腦核在退化，整個促進睡眠的網(wǎng)絡(luò)也在退化。”

“Crucially this means the brain has no way to compensate because all of these functionally related cell types are being destroyed at the same time.”

“關(guān)鍵的是，這意味著大腦沒有辦法進行補償，因為所有這些功能相關(guān)的細胞類型都在同時被破壞。”

Alzheimer’s can take root up to 20 years before symptoms appear and it’s believed existing medications are failing because they are given to patients far too late.

阿爾茨海默病可以在癥狀出現(xiàn)前20年即生根，據(jù)了解，現(xiàn)有的藥物正在失效，因為給病人吃的時間太晚了。