New Study Aims to Discover the Connection Between Alzheimer’s Disease and Inuslin

Researchers that focus on Alzheimer’s Disease have recently taken interest in brain insulin resistance. In April 2016, researchers at the Mount Sinai Health System discovered Alzheimer’s patients were more likely to develop diabetes. Published in the journal “Alzheimer’s and Dementia” researchers argue that diabetic patients are not more likely to develop diabetes but, the Alzheimer’s disease negatively impairs the portion of the brain that controls metabolism making a person more likely to develop diabetes. With that being said, a new study is looking to determine how insulin, the brain and Alzheimer’s disease work within the human body.

Bracket, a clinical trial technology company, announced they are partnering with Massachusetts General Hospital, in order to complete an a new study that measured the amount of insulin resistance in the brain among Alzheimer’s patients using an Insulin Clamp. The study will use Bracket’s CDR System, which assesses cognitive functions.

The goal of this study is to determine how hyperinsulinemia, or high blood sugar, affects brain physiology, brain electrical activity, and brain performance among patients that have Alzheimer’s Disease.

“This is an important study that could clearly establish the presence of an abnormal brain insulin response in Alzheimer’s Disease, and may provide useful tools for current and future treatment research in this very common disorder,” Aaron Koenig, Assistant in Psychiatry, at Massachusetts General Hospital announced in a statement.

Current studies from autopsy and animal research have shown that in Alzheimer’s Disease, neurons are resistant to insulin. This new technology developed by Bracket aims to examine the amount of cognitive function using advanced neuroimaging techniques, something that was not easily accomplished in the past.

“Using advanced neuroimaging, electrophysiology, and cognitive testing methods from Bracket’s CDR System, we are comparing the effects of experimentally-induced high insulin levels on the brains of individuals with Alzheimer’s Disease and healthy older adults,” Aaron Koenig said.

Following the news of Bracket’s new Alzheimer’s study, researchers may have discovered a prostate cancer treatment may be causing patients to develop Alzheimer’s Disease. Researchers at Stanford University analyzed medical records and found patients receiving medications that lowered testosterone were 200 percent more likely to develop dementia than patients who did receive that particular treatment.

There are 3 million cases of Alzheimer’s Disease in the United States per year. The life-long disease starts when brain cell connections die, eventually destroying memory and important mental and brain functions. At the moment there is no cure to Alzheimer’s Disease.