Repeated head injuries may accelerate Alzheimer’s

Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA — A study of mice released Tuesday suggests repeated head injuries may accelerate Alzheimer’s disease.

Researchers found mice that received repetitive knocks to the head — similar in severity to what a professional boxer or football player would experience — developed deposits of a plaquelike protein faster than mice that did not suffer head trauma.

The protein, amyloid beta, seemed to appear in mice in response to the injuries and can be found in brains of Alzheimer patients, the University of Pennsylvania researchers said.

Even without head trauma, the mice eventually developed the harmful plaques later in life, but with the trauma, they produced symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease much more quickly, according to the study, published in The Journal of Neuroscience. The mice used in the study contain the human gene that produces the protein.

The findings could be a promising development in Alzheimer’s research but using mice as a research model has limitations, said Dr. Zaven Khachaturian, senior medical adviser to the Alzheimer’s Association, who was not involved in the research.

The study is not the first to link head injuries and Alzheimer’s.

A report released in 2000 by the National Institute on Aging compared the cases of World War II soldiers and found those who suffered moderate head injuries during the war were twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s. Those who had severe injuries were four times as likely to develop the condition.

Alzheimer’s disease, generally diagnosed after the age of 60, progressively destroys memory and eventually the ability to care for oneself. About 4 million Americans have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.