Can Alzheimer's Disease be treated with Copper ions? Source: Japan Copper Centre Communications Division In 2 April 2001, this heading appeared in the Japan Financial Times ??"Alzheimer's Disease controlled by the copper ions". It was written by Professor Sugimoto Naoya from Kounan University, who had conducted investigations on the growth of brain protein. He had succeeded in curbing the growth with the introduction of copper ions. It is difficult to introduce copper into the human body as a form of therapy, but this discovery is useful when designing drugs used for therapy. In Alzheimer's Disease, protein which is usually broken up under normal circumstances, becomes embedded within the brain and attack the brain cells. Professor Sugimoto confirmed that when copper ions are mixed with this protein, copper reacts with the protein to form a part of an amino acid and inhibits the further increase of protein. Professor Sugimoto summarized the findings as follows: "The purpose of this experiment was originally to investigate the effect of metal ions on DNA and RNA and the first part involved the study of structural changes in protein. The response to light by the protein was measured and this was confirmed via atomic microscopes. it was found that the protein molecules were heavier and more fibrous in the absence of copper ions. In contrast, this characteristic of the protein molecules did not occur when copper ions were present. We then found that copper ions had the ability to reverse the damage of the protein molecules by altering their structure. It was interesting to note that the introduction of the copper ions had the greatest effect when the protein molecules were at their heaviest and most fibrous stage. However, this research is still considered to be at its infancy. The ability to control the protein molecules of Alzheimer's ;disease, has so far been tested only in the laboratories. It is still not known how a living body will react under the same circumstances. On the other hand, the effect of copper ions on protein molecules is not limited to Alzheimer's Disease. It can also be applied effectively to Purion(?) Disease, Mad Cow Disease, Creutzfeld Jacob Disease and so on. Since we have discovered the ability of copper ions to alter the molecular structure of protein, this will have an important role to play in the future." Alzheimer his always been known as a difficult disease to treat but now there is a ray of light. Copper, both an old and new metal, will be expanding into this new field in time to come.