The brain is one of the most complex organs that exists, imagine that inside your neurons there is a tiny silent reserve of sugar, but capable of changing the game against one of the most devastating diseases of old age, Alzheimer's.
For decades this detail went unnoticed, but recent research has just shown that understanding and controlling this reserve could be the key to protecting our memory, even explaining why some weight loss medications could protect the brain.
Scientists at the Buck Institute for Aging Research took a deep dive into brain biochemistry and found something that changes what we knew about brain metabolism.
They observed that our neurons store glycogen, a form of sugar stored in the same way as muscles and the liver, in quantities so small that until recently they were considered an irrelevant detail. It was by studying fruit flies that researchers noticed how that sugar behaves when the TAO protein, famous for forming tangles in the brain of people with Alzheimer's, begins to accumulate.
Glycogen binds to TAO and metabolism is blocked and neurons become intoxicated with their own sugar reserve, fueling a cycle of internal self-destruction. The discovery is so promising because this same enzyme can be activated naturally by fasting or even with already known drugs, the famous GLP1 used for diabetes and weight loss.
This suggests that part of the benefits of these drugs could be precisely in reactivating this hidden cleaning in the neurons. Tests carried out on human neurons from patients with frontotemporal dementia showed that by activating GLP, the brain manages to recover part of its ability to eliminate toxins, reducing damage and even prolonging the useful life of the cells. Of course, transforming this discovery and a real therapy still requires great caution.
Stimulating enzymes in the brain is not a simple thing and not all patients respond in the same way. Furthermore, understanding the appropriate doses, the ideal time to intervene and the possible side effects will require many clinical trials, so do not go taking medications, or send the publication to your aunts and uncles on WhatsApp saying that this is the cure, it is just research, promising, yes, but it is still just research.
