Research from the University of Illinois at Chicago has found that some of the genes affected by alcohol and inflammation are also implicated in processes that clear amyloid beta — the protein that forms globs of plaques in the brain and which contributes to neuronal damage and the cognitive impairment associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
Previous studies investigating the effects of alcohol consumption on Alzheimer’s disease have been controversial — some have indicated that alcohol has a protective effect, while others have pointed to a deleterious role for alcohol in the development of this neurocognitive disease. Recent research has suggested that alcohol consumption, and its impact on the immune system and inflammation in the brain, may be the vehicle through which alcohol might exert its influence on the development of Alzheimer’s disease, but no previous studies have directly evaluated which genes are affected by alcohol in cells in the brain involved in protecting against Alzheimer’s disease.
Dr. Douglas Feinstein, professor of anesthesiology in the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine, along with other researchers conducted a cell-based study which suggests that alcohol may impede the clearance of amyloid beta in the brain.