Alzheimer’s Disease And Type 2 Diabetes: Exploring The Association To Obesity And Tyrosine Hydroxylase

Medha      Priyadarshini; Mohammad      A. Kamal; Nigel      H. Greig; Marcella      Realef; Adel      M. Abuzenadah; Adeel      G.A. Chaudhary; Ghazi      A. Damanhouri

doi:10.2174/187152712800792767

Abstract

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are two debilitating health disorders afflicting millions worldwide. Recent research has revealed similarities between AD and T2DM. Both these protein conformational disorders are associated with obesity, insulin resistance, inflammation and endoplasmic reticulum stress, en-route initiation and/or stage aggravation. In this mini review we have tried to summarize studies describing obesity, insulin resistance and glucocorticoid imbalance as common patho-mechanisms in T2DM and AD. A reduction in tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) in the brain has been found to occur in Parkinson’s disease (PD). AD, T2DM and PD share common risk factors like depression. Thus, whether TH is involved in the ‘state of cognitive depression’ that is the hallmark of AD and often accompanies PD and T2DM is also explored.

Keywords: Type 2 diabetes mellitus, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, neurodegeneration, tyrosine hydroxylase, dementia, obesity, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, neuroinflammation.