Dietary exposure to an environmental toxin triggers neurofibrillary tangles and amyloid deposits in the brain
Open accessAbstract
Neurofibrillary tangles (NFT) and β-amyloid plaques are the neurological hallmarks of both Alzheimer's disease and an unusual paralytic illness suffered by Chamorro villagers on the Pacific island of Guam. Many Chamorros with the disease suffer dementia, and in some villages one-quarter of the adults perished from the disease. Like Alzheimer's, the causal factors of Guamanian amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/parkinsonism dementia complex (ALS/PDC) are poorly understood. In replicated experiments, we found that chronic dietary exposure to a cyanobacterial toxin present in the traditional Chamorro diet, β- N -methylamino- l -alanine (BMAA), triggers the formation of both NFT and β-amyloid deposits similar in structure and density to those found in brain tissues of Chamorros who died with ALS/PDC. Vervets ( Chlorocebus sabaeus ) fed for 140 days with BMAA-dosed fruit developed NFT and sparse β-amyloid deposits in the brain. Co-administration of the dietary amino acid l -serine with l -BMAA significantly reduced the density of NFT. These findings indicate that while chronic exposure to the environmental toxin BMAA can trigger neurodegeneration in vulnerable individuals, increasing the amount of l -serine in the diet can reduce the risk.
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Cyanobacteria-produced toxins (N-methylamino-L-alanine, saxitoxin, anatoxin) have been shown to exacerbate AD pathology.
“These toxins have been shown to exacerbate AD pathology [586, 587].”
From Molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (2020) · cites this paper as [586]
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- Authors
- Cox, P. A., Davis, D. A., Mash, D. C., Metcalf, J. S., & Banack, S. A.
- Affiliations
- Institute for EthnoMedicine (US)
- University of Miami (US)
- Corresponding author
- Cox, Paul Alan
- Venue
- Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
- Publisher
- The Royal Society
- Published
- 2016-01-27
- Volume
- 283
- Issue
- 1823
- Pages
- 20152397
- ISSN
- 0080-4649 (ISSN-L)
- 0962-8452
- 1471-2954
- PMC
- PMC4795023
- OpenAlex
- W2292371387
- Cited by
- 256
- References
- 49
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 22 · 2021: 28 · 2020: 41 · 2019: 23 · 2018: 25 · 2017: 42 · 2016: 22
- FWCI
- 30.02
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Josephine P. and John J. Louis Foundation
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Alzheimer's disease research and treatments
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Chemistry › Marine Toxins and Detection Methods
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Prion Diseases and Protein Misfolding
- Keywords
- BMAA, neurofibrillary tangles, amyloid plaques, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/parkinsonism-dementia complex, Guam, Chamorro, dietary exposure, neurodegeneration, L-serine, vervet monkey, Alzheimer's disease
- MeSH terms
- Cyanobacteria Toxins, Amino Acids, Diamino, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Animals, Brain, Chlorocebus aethiops, Food Contamination, Guam, Humans, Serine, Amyloid beta-Peptides, Neurofibrillary Tangles, Plant Roots, Population Groups
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