C60 may offer the potential to prevent amyloid plaque forming in the brain. These are made of a protein called beta-amyloid protein which accumulates in the brains of Alzheimer patients. Thus C60 may reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s and dementia. In 2017 the WHO reported that around 50 million people worldwide were suffering from dementia. It went on to say that 60-70% of those cases were as a result of Alzheimer’s disease. Indeed Alzheimer’s Disease International project this could rise to over 130 million by 2050.
The loss of memory and independence due to dementia has serious implications for suffers, their families and health systems. Treatments that could prevent, slow, and reverse the development of Alzheimer’s disease offer hope to millions.
Amyloid plaque buildup in the brain
Studies point to; inflammation, beta-amyloid plaque buildup, and oxidative damage as being key in the onset of Alzheimer’s. Amyloid plaques form when beta-amyloid protein fibrils, amyloids, accumulate outside the neurons in the brain. Amyloids are normally found in the body but for some reason can accumulate in the brain and form a sticky buildup. These amyloid plaques along with neurofibrillary tangles contribute to the degradation of the neurons in the brain and the subsequent symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.
C60 research gives hope
In 2012 researchers in Argentina have shown, using computer simulations, that C60 is able to breakdown the amyloid-β protein thus preventing the formation of the amyloid plaques. The hope is for C60 to slow or reverse Alzheimer’s disease.
In 2009 a group in Russia was able to photograph the C60 molecules preventing the formation of amyloid fibrils. Therefore, C60 may be able to prevent the onset or development of Alzheimer’s disease. They also showed that a polycarboxyl derivative of C60 destroyed mature amyloid fibrils of muscle protein and prevented the formation of new fibrils.
In 2015 another group in Russia showed C60 had neuroprotective effects on the brain.
In a study in 2008, mice which naturally develop dementia were able to remember their way around a maze having taken C60. Those not given C60 lost their spatial memory with age. The mice given C60 also had an increased life span.
The references quoted here and elsewhere suggest that C60 could play a role in treating forms of dementia including Alzheimer’s disease.
We have customers who, on starting C60, have remarked how their concentration improves.
