Lifestyles of dead patients gathered from relatives
They gently spoke to the relatives of the deceased patients, getting an insight into what these people ate and drank and how they lived. They also screened the blood of these patients and took specimens of their brains after the autopsies in their quest to gather elusive knowledge on what is affecting the aging brain.
They were looking for neurodegenerative and stroke pathologies in 76 Sri Lankan and 50 Indian human brain samples, using molecular genetic techniques.
The diligent team from the Sri Jayawardanapura University’s Interdisciplinary Centre for Innovation in Biotechnology & Neuroscience under the guidance of Prof. Ranil de Silva performed histopathological/immunohistochemical staining on the 76 autopsy aging brain samples to get a hold of the complex neuropathology of seven diseases. They also conducted grain pathology through genotyping for selective candidate genes.
“We have stored these samples in our Brain Bank,” says Prof. de Silva, profiling the deceased patients as being in the age-range of 50-89 years, with the median age being 65.5 years. The group includes 52 men and 24 women.
The final autopsy diagnosis included 45 with cardiovascular diseases; two with coronary obstructive airway disease; six through suicide; seven due to accidents; three from pneumonia; one from asphyxia; two from cancer; one from cirrhosis of the liver; three from septicaemia/ septic shock; two from protracted complicated illness; and four from unknown causes.
The team in collaboration with the National Institute of Mental Health & Neurosciences, Bangalore, India, was also able to put under the microscope the Indian aging brains.
And under scrutiny were Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), Parkinson Disease, Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, Dementia with Lewy Bodies, Multiple System Tauopathy with Dementia, Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy and Argyrophilic Grain Disease.
The findings are:
The burden of AD-related neuropathology in Sri Lanka and India was similar to that of the west. This is at variance with expected lower AD-related lesion burden based on the clinical/epidemiological studies suggesting lower prevalence in these countries. The possible protective effects of frequent consumption of pure black tea ( 4cups/day) and moderate consumption of green-yellow vegetables in dementia-related neuropathological changes. This indicates that diet could play a role towards healthy brain aging. The confirmation of the strong contribution of hypertension and diabetes in stroke and the strong association of cerebral small vessel lesions in AD-related neuropathological changes. Oxidative stress might be an important contributor to cerebral small vessel disease (SVD), a major contributor to stroke and a leading cause of cognitive impairment and dementia. Experimental studies in using natural anti-oxidants such as the polyphenol anti-oxidant, catechin (from green tea), are promising. A strong association between illiteracy (less than primary education) and increased risk of brain degeneration. Having investigated, in collaboration with Dr. Lochandaka Ranathunga of the Department of Information Technology, Faculty of Information Technology, University of Moratuwa, the wave-pattern variations of people who have engaged in meditation long-term, the study had found that meditation has a mind-relaxing effect. However, further studies may be needed to confirm this. A trend indicative that those with brain diseases such as dementia which affect cognitive status were more likely to commit suicide or die in traffic accidents and as such forensic autopsies should include neuropathological examination of the brains of such elderly victims. Police records which state that the highest percentage of suicides is in the 70-age group, therefore, corroborate the centre’s findings.