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What does a brain affected by Alzheimer's disease look like? More specifically, how do the proteins present in the brains of Dementia and Alzheimer's disease patients appear? A clear view of the structures of these proteins will enable scientists to find a cure for these diseases affecting millions of people.

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Now for the first time, with the help of 3D imaging, scientists at the UK's Leeds University have revealed the molecular structures of the two key proteins present in brains affected by Alzheimer's and dementia.

These proteins are β-amyloid and tau, which form plaques and abnormal filaments in the brain that lead to dementia and Alzheimer's disease, the most common ailments of memory loss and cognitive impairment. While it is not conclusively proven that these proteins are the only cause of the two diseases, they have been present in brains affected by Dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

"In the longer term, it is hoped that observing this interplay of proteins within tissues will accelerate identifying new targets for next-generation mechanism-based therapeutics and diagnostics," Leeds University said in a release on the study, which was published in Nature Journal.

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The study is part of efforts to understand the environment in which these proteins exist and find out how they interact with surrounding cells and tissues, specifically those affected by Alzheimer's and Dementia.

To explore deep inside an Alzheimer’s disease brain, scientists created 3D maps using cryo-electron tomography and fluorescence microscopy. 

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With these 3D maps, they could "observe proteins, the molecular building blocks of life a million times smaller than a grain of rice, within the brain," said the release from Leeds University. "This study revealed the molecular structure of tau in tissue, how amyloids are arranged, and new molecular structures entangled within this pathology in the brain."

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β-amyloid plaques and tau filaments disrupt cellular communication, causing memory loss and confusion, and eventual death of healthy cells.

"This first glimpse of the structure of molecules inside the human brain offers further clues to what happens to proteins in Alzheimer’s disease but also sets out an experimental approach that can be applied to better understand a broad range of other devastating neurological diseases," said Dr Rene Frank, lead author of the study and Associate Professor, School of Biomedical Sciences at Leeds University.

This study was done in collaboration with Amsterdam UMC, Zeiss Microscopy, and the University of Cambridge. 

(With inputs from agencies)