A Brief study about Alzheimer’s Disease and Stem Cell

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia, categorized by a steep decline in one’s ability to recall memory, think clearly and ultimately function independently.

Aging causes many changes in the human body, as the mechanisms responsible for maintaining proper protein composition start to decline with age. Alzheimer's Society supports the advancement of Stem Cell Research to help understand the causes of dementia and to find new cure. Recent research proved that stem cells can improve various cellular functions in animal models of AD, including synaptic strength, microglial activity, angiogenesis, mitochondrial function, autophagy, and apoptosis.

Neural Stem Cells (NSC) are making a new aspect of the disease manifestation based on the recent findings that neurogenesis reduces dramatically in Alzheimer’s disease patients compared to healthy individuals. Moreover, the discovery of mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomes, is considered a new emerging approach to intercellular communication and has shed a new light in the development of disease-modifying treatments for AD.

Currently, the use of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) technology may provide a promising tool to create reliable models, for better understanding for the etiology of pathological process of AD and for efficient anti-AD drugs screening.

Three-dimensional (3D) Brain organoid systems generated from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) have demonstrated considerable potentials in recapitulating key features of AD pathophysiology, such as amyloid plaque and neurofibrillary tangle-like structures.