Alzheimer's linked to high glucose damage

LA JOLLA, Calif., May 2 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say Alzheimer's disease may be linked to brain blood vessel damage tied to high glucose levels.

Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, Calif., found blood vessels in the brains of young mice were damaged by the interaction of the higher blood glucose levels associated with diabetes and low levels of beta amyloid -- the peptide that forms clumps in the brains of Alzheimer's patients.

The blood vessel damage caused the mice to suffer memory loss long before any plaques in the brain appeared.

"While all people have a low level of amyloid circulating in their blood, in diabetics there may be a synergistic toxicity between the amyloid and high level of blood glucose that is leading to the problems with proper blood vessel formation, lead author Joseph Burdo, now at Bridgewater State College in Massachusetts, said in a statement.

The findings were published in the journal the Neurobiology of Aging.