Copper

www.perpetualcommotion.com
"Give with a free hand, but give only your own."
-- J.R.R. Tolkien The Children of Hurin
- Copper -

********************************************************************************************
Observations:

Unraveling Alzheimer's: Simple Small Molecules Could Untangle Complex Disease

ScienceDaily (Dec. 10, 2010) — New molecular tools developed at the University of Michigan show promise for "cleansing" the brain of amyloid plaques, implicated in Alzheimer's disease... In earlier work, Lim and her team developed dual-purpose molecular tools that both grab metal ions and interact with amyloid-beta. The researchers went on to show that in solutions with or without living cells, the molecules were able to regulate copper-induced amyloid-beta aggregation, not only disrupting the formation of clumps, but also breaking up clumps that already had formed...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101209130959.htm

ANN ARBOR: U of M researchers looking at Alzheimer's disease
Monday, December 13, 2010
The researchers went on to show that in solutions with or without living cells, the molecules were able to regulate copper-induced amyloid-beta aggregation, not only disrupting the formation of clumps but also breaking up clumps that already had formed.
http://www.heritage.com/articles/2010/12/13/heritagewest/news/doc4d056b2bc08bb230985066.txt?viewmode=fullstory

********************************************************************************************
Known sources:

********************************************************************************************
Natural sources:

********************************************************************************************
References:

Copper:
Scientists Discover Link Between Alzheimer's And Copper
Medical News Today 07 Nov 2007

"Copper can damage a molecule that escorts out of the brain a substance called amyloid beta that builds up in toxic quantities in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease. The new findings demonstrate one way in which copper might contribute to the development of the disease, though scientists say much more research needs to be done to clarify what role, if any, copper ultimately plays... For decades, many scientists have hypothesized that a variety of metals, including aluminum, iron, zinc and copper, might play a role in Alzheimer's disease, but no link has ever been proven. In the past few years, several scientists have reported that copper is one component of the amyloid beta clumps -- tiny trash heaps filled with all sorts of molecules and substances -- that speckle the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease... The new results go much further, showing that copper damages the major known system the brain uses to get rid of amyloid beta."
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/88024.php

Protective Role For Copper In Alzheimer’s Disease
ScienceDaily (Oct. 13, 2009)
Two articles in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease -- by Dr Chris Exley, Reader in Bioinorganic Chemistry in the Research Institute for the Environment, Physical Sciences and Applied Mathematics at Keele University, UK, and Dr Zhao-Feng Jiang, of Beijing Union University, Beijing, China -- have confirmed a potentially protective role for copper in Alzheimer’s disease... A central tenet of the Amyloid Cascade Hypothesis of Alzheimer’s disease is the aberrant deposition in the brain of Aβ42 in β-sheets in neuritic or senile plaques. The Keele team have shown in previous research in JAD that copper (Cu(II)) prevents the deposition of Aβ42 in β-sheets while in the current research they show that Cu(II) abolishes the β-sheet structure of preformed amyloid fibrils of Aβ42. A similar finding was made by the group of Jiang for the other form of beta amyloid, Aβ40, and together these observations strongly suggest that copper prevents both the formation and the accumulation of plaques in the brain...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091008133457.htm

********************************************************************************************

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

********************************************************************************************