Maite Solas PHOTO: Manuel Castells

According to Maite Solas, a researcher at School of Pharmacy at the University of Navarra, environmental factors such as stress may already be influencing an increase in the incidence of Alzheimer's disease in our society.

The work, which has been part of his doctoral thesis , has focused on programs of study with murine models (mice) exposed to both postnatal stress -in the early stages of life- and in adulthood. "Thus, we found that in both cases stress contributed to the development of a cognitive deficit and to the increase of markers present in Alzheimer's patients".

Although the mechanisms underlying development Alzheimer's disease are not yet known, the researcher explains that some connections are being discovered, such as the relationship between glucocorticoid hypersecretion and neuronal loss in the hippocampus, a characteristic lesion of the degenerative disease. "Also, exhibition at high glucocorticoid levels produces physiological responses characteristic of subject 2 diabetes mellitus, such as peripheral insulin resistance. Therefore, it seems that there could be a link between the two conditions," explains the new doctor.

In addition, endogenous agents - such as age and Genetics- could be determinants in the onset and progression of Alzheimer's disease: "So if we can control stress or intervene with drugs in the hypersecretion of glucocorticoids and insulin production, we may have a fundamental therapeutic target to treat the disease".

Genetic Alzheimer's: only 1% of patients
Part of Maite Solas' doctoral thesis has been developed at high school Karolinska, in Stockholm, one of the most important centers in the world in Alzheimer's research . Her co-director, Ángel Cedazo-Mínguez, was also part of the board of thesis . On this occasion, the expert recalled that most of his efforts are focused on the "non-determinant" disease, that which does not have a genetic origin, since only 1% of sufferers are genetically predisposed to suffer from it.

In this sense, the Spanish specialist pointed out that the clues to understanding the origin of the disease are now focused on analyzing factors that are known to be determining factors, "such as the lack of sport, high cholesterol, hypertension, an unhealthy per diem expenses , fewer social relationships and a brain that is less worked -all typical of modern life. This allows them to open new avenues for treatments that can delay its onset: "If we succeed, we will have saved the majority of patients and greatly improved the quality of life of sufferers".