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The link between iron, metabolic syndrome, and Alzheimer’s disease

  • Dementias - Review Article
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Abstract

Both Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the most common form of dementia, and type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), a disease associated with metabolic syndrome (MetS), affect a great number of the world population and both have increased prevalence with age. Recently, many studies demonstrated that pre-diabetes, MetS, and T2DM are risk factors in the development of AD and have many common mechanisms. The main focus of studies is the insulin resistance outcome found both in MetS as well as in brains of AD subjects. However, oxidative stress (OS)-related mechanisms, which are well known to be involved in AD, including mitochondrial dysfunction, elevated iron concentration, reactive oxygen species (ROS), and stress-related enzyme or proteins (e.g. heme oxygenase-1, transferrin, etc.), have not been elucidated in MetS or T2DM brains although OS and iron are involved in the degeneration of the pancreatic islet β cells. Therefore, this review sets to cover the current literature regarding OS and iron in MetS and T2DM and the similarities to mechanisms in AD both in human subjects as well as in animal models.

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  1. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Zurich, Neumuensterallee 9, 8032, Zurich, Switzerland

    Edna Grünblatt

  2. Neurochemistry Laboratory, Clinical Neurochemistry, Clinic and Policlinic for Psychiatry, Psychosomatic and Psychotherapy, National Parkinson Foundation Centre of Excellence Laboratories, University of Würzburg, Füchsleinstr. 15, 97080, Würzburg, Germany

    Edna Grünblatt, Jasmin Bartl & Peter Riederer

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Grünblatt, E., Bartl, J. & Riederer, P. The link between iron, metabolic syndrome, and Alzheimer’s disease. J Neural Transm 118, 371–379 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-010-0426-3

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