Australian Study Warns That Nose Picking or Plucking Nose Hairs Can Lead Increased Risk for Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia!
Source: Medical News - Alzheimer's Disease Oct 31, 2022 2 years, 1 month, 3 weeks, 1 day, 19 hours, 55 minutes ago
A new study led by researchers from Griffith University, Gold Coast campus, Queensland -Australia has found that activities such as nose picking or plucking nose hairs can lead increase risk for Alzheimer’s disease and dementia!
According to the study team, chlamydia pneumoniae is a respiratory tract pathogen that can also infect the central nervous system (CNS). Recently, the link between C. pneumoniae CNS infection and late-onset dementia has become increasingly evident.
Interestingly, in mice, CNS infection has been shown to occur weeks to months after intranasal inoculation. By isolating live C. pneumoniae from tissues and using immunohistochemistry, the study team showed that C. pneumoniae can infect the olfactory and trigeminal nerves, olfactory bulb and brain within 72 h in mice.
Importantly, C. pneumoniae infection also resulted in dysregulation of key pathways involved in Alzheimer’s disease pathogenesis at 7 and 28 days after inoculation.
Amyloid beta accumulations were also detected adjacent to the C. pneumoniae inclusions in the olfactory system.
Furthermore, injury to the nasal epithelium resulted in increased peripheral nerve and olfactory bulb infection, but did not alter general CNS infection.
In vitro, C. pneumoniae was able to infect peripheral nerve and CNS glia.
The study findings show that the nerves extending between the nasal cavity and the brain constitute invasion paths by which C. pneumoniae can rapidly invade the CNS likely by surviving in glia and leading to Aβ deposition that can lead to Alzheimer’s disease and dementia!
The study findings were published in the peer reviewed journal: Scientific Reports (Nature)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-06749-9
The study team are the first to demonstrated that a bacteria can travel through the olfactory nerve in the nose and into the brain in mice, where it creates markers that are a tell-tale sign of Alzheimer’s disease.
The research findings revealed that Chlamydia pneumoniae, a type of bacteria that can cause respiratory tract infections, such as pneumonia, exploited the nerve extending between the nasal cavity and the brain as an invasion path to assault the central nervous system. In response, the cells in the brain began depositing amyloid beta protein which is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease.
Dr James St John, a Professor at Griffith University and head of the Clem Jones Center for Neurobiology and Stem Cell Research, is a co-author of the world first research.
Professor St John told Thailand
Medical News, “We’re the first to show that Chlamydia pneumoniae can go directly up the nose and into the brain where it can set off pathologies that look like Alzheimer’s disease. We saw this happen in a mouse model, and the evidence is potentially scary for humans as well.”
According to professor St John, the olfactory nerve in the nose is directly exposed to air and offers a short pathway to the brain, one which bypasses the blood-brain barrier. It&a
mp;rsquo;s a route that bacteria and viruses have sniffed out as an easy one into the brain.
The study team is already planning the next phase of research and aims to prove the same pathway exists in humans.
Professor St John added, “We need to do this study in humans and confirm whether the same pathway operates in the same way. It’s research that has been proposed by many individuals, but not yet completed. What we do know is that these same bacteria are present in humans, but we haven’t worked out how they get there.”
Professor St John suggests there are some simple steps to look after the lining of the nose that people can take now if they want to lower their risk of potentially developing late-onset Alzheimer’s disease.
He warned, “Picking your nose and plucking the hairs from your nose are not a good idea. We don’t want to damage the inside of our nose and picking and plucking can do that!”
He added, “If you damage the lining of the nose, you can increase how many bacteria can go up into your brain.”
Professor St John also said that smell tests may also have potential as detectors for Alzheimer’s and dementia as loss of sense of smell is an early indicator of Alzheimer’s disease. He suggests smell tests from when a person turns 60 years old could be beneficial as an early detector.
He said, “Once you get over 65 years old, your risk factor goes right up, but we’re looking at other causes as well, because it’s not just age but it is also environmental exposure as well. And we think that bacteria and viruses are critical.”
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