Dolphin brains show signs of Alzheimer’s Disease

Study suggests Alzheimer's Disease and Type 2 diabetes might both be the price of a longer lifespan, with altered insulin function the common cause. A review led by Professor Simon Lovestone, an old age psychiatrist from Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, found that humans were almost unique in having Alzheimer's Disease. This is the first study to find unambiguous signs of the disease in a wild animal. 'It is very rare to find signs of full-blown Alzheimer's Disease in non-human brains,' said Professor Lovestone, who is also researcher within the Oxford University Department of Psychiatry and the dementia theme lead for the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre (BRC). 'This is the first time anyone has found such clear evidence of the protein plaques and tangles associated with Alzheimer's Disease in the brain of a wild animal.' Humans are also almost unique in living long after they are capable of having children; fertility in both men and women declines sharply around the age of 40, but people can go on to live as long as 110 years. Other animals tend to die shortly after the end of their fertile years. In a study published in the journal Alzheimer's and Dementia, researchers tested the idea that living long after the end of fertility might be linked to Alzheimer's Disease, by studying the brains of another species which can live long after having offspring: dolphins.