Losing sleep can lead to losing brain cells. According to scientist the same levels of proteins that form plaques of Alzheimer's disease appear in the brains of mice by lacking sleep. Peter Meerlo, a neuroscientist mentions that chronic sleep loss will eventually change the brain in ways that will contribute diseases. Researchers along with David Holtzman used a method called microdialysis to measure the levels of amyloid-beta a protein in the fluid between the brain cells of mice. The reason they measure the amyloid-beta is because amyloid-beta twists into a sticky form and clumps together, forming plaques. Scientist's believe that amyloid-beta clumping together will eventually lead to the death of neurons and to Alzheimer's disease.
The research done was discovery science because they took all their observations and explained it by making this discovery. This research a lot of importance because it shows people that a lack of sleep or at least a chronic lack of sleep can eventually lead to Alzheimer's disease.
Author: Tina Hesman Saey
Title of Article: Researchers link Alzheimer's disease to a lack of ZZZZZs
Journal: Science News
Date Published: October 24, 2009
Pages of Article: 11
1 comment:
You will have to reconsider your conclusion that this is an example of Discovery Science. In your analysis you stated that experimentation took place.
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