Study identifies a new way brain cells die in Alzheimer's disease

(Medical Xpress) -- A new study challenges conventional thinking about how brain cells die in Alzheimer’s disease. The findings demonstrate a previously unknown mechanism by which the cells die and will help lead researchers in new directions for treating the degenerative brain disease. The study by scientists at the University of Calgary’s Hotchkiss Brain Institute is published this week in the prestigious journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).They found that the NMDA receptor is strongly regulated by copper. If copper is prevented from regulating this key receptor, such as in Alzheimer’s disease, brain cells become over stimulated; with time they become sick and ultimately die.