Aloe Vera vs Alzheimer’s Disease?

Regular 10almonds readers are probably already fairly on top of Alzheimer’s preventative measures, such as:

Alzheimer’s Causative Factors To Avoid

…but here’s a new development:

All about acetylcholine (and its friends)

Researchers (Dr. Meriem Khedraoui et al.) have investigated bioactive compounds from aloe vera as potential treatments for Alzheimer’s disease, using advanced computer modeling techniques.

Specifically, Dr. Khedraoui and her team focused on how the aloe vera compounds affected acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase, two enzymes that break down acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter already reduced in Alzheimer’s and closely linked to memory loss and cognitive decline.

Managing neurotransmitters has often been an angle of research when it comes to brain health, and we’ve written about that before with other neurotransmitters.

For example, with regard to dopamine, there’s a study that found:

• Increasing dopamine activity increased neprilysin levels.
• Higher neprilysin reduced amyloid-β levels.
• Reduced amyloid burden was associated with better memory performance

You can read about that, here: An Accessible New Development Against Alzheimer’s

And when it comes to norephinephrine, there was a study that concluded “β2AR manipulations can alter disease pathology”, which is a great example of how carefully scientists say things, but the series of declarations adds up to the same; we’ll quote some points directly from the paper’s abstract:

• NE inhibits surveillance activity of microglia, the brain’s resident immune cells, via their β2 adrenergic receptors (β2ARs)
• Microglial β2AR signaling is an important modulator of amyloid pathology.
• Endogenous β2AR signaling degenerates as a function of amyloid pathology and aging.
• In AD, microglia downregulate β2AR expression early and progressively.
• β2AR manipulations can alter disease pathology.
• Importantly, dampening microglial β2AR signaling worsened plaque load and the associated neuritic damage, while stimulating microglial β2AR signaling attenuated amyloid pathology.
• Our results suggest that microglial β2AR could be explored as a potential therapeutic target to modify AD pathology.

Translating from sciencese (if you’ll pardon that we’ll still use some big words, but only ones we explain in the below-linked article):

Norepinephrine activates certain receptors in microglia, and those receptors tell the microglia to “keep calm & carry on”. In the case of Alzheimer’s disease, those receptors stop working correctly, leading to increased neuroinflammation. Thus, stimulating those receptors with norepinephrine reduces neuroinflammation, allowing the microglia to calmly carry on with their actual job of getting rid of the amyloid that leads to Alzheimer’s disease.

You read more about that, here: Norepinephrine vs Alzheimer’s Disease

So, what about acetylcholine?

Acetylcholine is the main neurotransmitter of the parasympathetic nervous system, and is also heavily involved in cognitive functions including memory and creative thinking.

In this study we’re sharing today, they found that the compounds from aloe vera demonstrated strong binding affinities of −8.6 kcal/mol with acetylcholinesterase and −8.7 kcal/mol with butyrylcholinesterase.

This is relevant, because if you take an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, it will inhibit acetylcholinesterase, meaning you will have more acetylcholine to work with. That’s good (for most people most of the time).

You can find the paper itself, here: In silico exploration of Aloe vera leaf compounds as dual AChE and BChE inhibitors for Alzheimer’s disease therapy

So, should you stock up on aloe vera and get juicing?

Probably not just yet, though don’t let us stop you. It’s just, this research is new and needs more testing to be sure of its conclusions, which will doubtlessly be done in non-human animals and then in humans.

In the meantime, here are two ways of improving your choline and/or acetylcholine levels:

Huperzine A: A Natural Nootropic ← it’s an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor

…and:

Citicoline: Better Than Dietary Choline?

Want to learn more?

Here’s a great starting point:

How To Reduce Your Alzheimer’s Risk

Take care!