Patients that have Undergone Hemodialysis Exhibit Lower Amyloid Deposition in the Brain: Evidence Supporting a Therapeutic Strategy for Alzheimer’s Disease by Removal of Blood Amyloid

Abstract

As a proof of concept that removal of blood amyloid-β (Aβ) can reduce Aβ deposition in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease, cortices of patients who had undergone hemodialysis (HD), which removes Aβ from the blood, were histochemically analyzed; postmortem brain sections were stained with anti-Aβ antibodies. Brains from patients who had undergone HD had significantly fewer senile plaques than those of patient who had not undergone HD. This significant difference was also confirmed by silver staining. Our findings suggest that removal of blood Aβ by hemodialysis results in lower accumulation of Aβ in the brain.