Blood Ammonia as a Possible Etiological Agent for Alzheimer's Disease

• Published in: Nutrients 2018-05, Vol.10 (5), p.564
• Main Authors: Jin, Yan Yan, Singh, Parul, Chung, Hea-Jong, Hong, Seong-Tschool
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Accumulation; Alzheimer disease; Alzheimer Disease - blood; Alzheimer Disease - diet therapy; Alzheimer Disease - etiology; Alzheimer's disease; Ammonia; Ammonia - blood; Amyloid beta-Peptides - metabolism; Blood; Chemical compounds; Cognitive ability; cognitive disorders; Dementia disorders; Diet, Mediterranean; Disease; Drug delivery; drugs; Environmental factors; etiological agents; Etiology; Humans; Hyperammonemia; Hyperammonemia - blood; Hyperammonemia - complications; Lactobacilli; Lactobacillus; Lactobacillus - metabolism; Mediterranean diet; Neurodegeneration; neurodegenerative diseases; Neurological diseases; peptides; Pharmacology; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; Review; Tau protein; tau Proteins - metabolism; therapeutics; β-Amyloid
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu10050564

Alzheimer's disease (AD), characterized by cognitive decline and devastating neurodegeneration, is the most common age-related dementia. Since AD is a typical example of a complex disease that is affected by various genetic and environmental factors, various factors could be involved in preventing and/or treating AD. Extracellular accumulation of beta-amyloid peptide (Aβ) and intracellular accumulation of tau undeniably play essential roles in the etiology of AD. However, interestingly enough, medications targeting Aβ or tau all failed and the only clinically efficient medications for AD are drugs targeting the cholinergic pathway. Also, a very intriguing discovery in AD is that the Mediterranean diet (MeDi), containing an unusually large quantity of Lactobacilli, is very effective in preventing AD. Based on recently emerging findings, it is our opinion that the reduction of blood ammonia levels by Lactobacilli in MeDi is the therapeutic agent of MeDi for AD. The recent evidence of Lactobacilli lowering blood ammonia level not only provides a link between AD and MeDi but also provides a foundation of pharmabiotics for hyperammonemia as well as various neurological diseases.