July 25, 2024 Neurosurgeon and Neuroscientist, Dr. Joseph Maroon, was recently asked by a group of physicians in Nigeria to discuss some of his latest research on the why oxidative stress has been shown to be a major cause of neurodegeneration and cognitive decline associated with aging.  It this lecture Dr. Maroon points out the importance of the antioxidant, glutathione, that has been found to be depleted in the brains of those with Alzheimer’s disease.  In addition, he reviews the dangers of excessive iron in the brain and the resultant oxidative stress it is linked to.  This has been shown to be a major factor associated with brain degeneration in the brains of alcoholics.

In his article from 2023, entitled, Oxidative Stress Occurs Prior to Amyloid Aβ Plaque Formation and Tau Phosphorylation in Alzheimer’s Disease: Role of Glutathione and Metal Ions (ACS Chem Neurosci. 2023.), with Drs. Rimil Guha Roy and Dr. Pravat K Mandal, Dr. Maroon notes the following:

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is an insidious and progressive neurodegenerative disorder that affects millions of people worldwide. Although the pathogenesis remains obscure, there are two dominant causal hypotheses. Since last three decades, amyloid beta (Aβ) deposition was the most prominent hypothesis, and the other is the tau hyperphosphorylation hypothesis. The confirmed diagnostic criterion for AD is the presence of neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) composed of hyperphosphorylated tau and the deposition of toxic oligomeric Aβ in the autopsied brain. Consistent with these hypotheses, oxidative stress (OS) is garnering major attention in AD research. OS results from an imbalance of pro-oxidants and antioxidants. There is a considerable debate in the scientific community on which process occurs first, OS or plaque deposition/tau hyperphosphorylation. Based on recent scientific observations of various laboratories including ours along with critical analysis of those information, we believe that OS is the early event that leads to oligomeric Aβ deposition as well as dimerization of tau protein and its subsequent hyperphosphorylation. This OS hypothesis immediately suggests the consideration of novel therapeutic approaches to include antioxidants involving glutathione enrichment in the brain by supplementation with or without an iron chelator.

SEE BELOW VIDEO PRESENTAION of Lecture given to Nigeria physician researchers on this topic: