Living with Alzheimer's Film Project

In healthy individuals, the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a fine mesh filter that transports only select molecules from the body’s main circulatory system into the brain in a highly controlled manner, protecting the more delicate brain from a variety of dangers, and transports certain molecules back out of the brain as well. It has been known for some time that while the BBB experiences some structural changes as a normal consequence of aging, it appears to undergo more degradation in patients with Alzheimer’s disease.

Precisely when and how, though, does the BBB become compromised, and does it happen as a prelude to Alzheimer’s or as a cause of it? These are essential questions. Thanks to three recent studies by Berislav Zlokovic, M.D., Ph.D. (pictured), of the University of Southern California, we are getting closer to answering them.

Read more on these studies from Cure Alzheimer’s Fund, a non-profit supporting the work of Dr. Zlokovic and other top Alzheimer’s researchers.

Dr. Rudy Tanzi of Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital is a leading researcher in the Alzheimer’s field. He has co-discovered the three familial early-onset Alzheimer’s genes. In 2014, his lab developed “Alzheimer’s in a Dish“, a 3D model of a human brain with Alzheimer’s that will be used to better understand the disease and test potential therapies. Tanzi serves as Research Consortium Chair for Cure Alzheimer’s Fund, a nonprofit dedicated to funding research with the highest probability of slowing, stopping or reversing Alzheimer’s disease.

In this video for CuriosityStream, Dr. Tanzi gives a brief overview of Alzheimer’s disease for the layperson. Watch to find out what happens in the brain during Alzheimer’s, and how this causes the symptoms we see in patients.