Biochemistry of Stress and Alzheimer's
The advance of biotechnology is shedding light on the mechanisms underlying common sense on health - in this case, that chronic stress is bad for you: "A long-term study of about 800 members of religious orders had found that the people who were most prone to stress were twice as likely to develop Alzheimer's disease, but the nature of the link between the two has been elusive ... The group's findings [suggest] that the brain-damaging effects of negative emotions are relayed through the two known corticotropin-releasing factor receptors, CRFR1 and CRFR2, which are part of a central switchboard that mediates the body's responses to stress and stress-related disorders. ... Lee made available his mice that had been genetically engineered to lack either CRFR1 or CRFR2. ... In the absence of CRFR1, stress-induced tau phosphorylation was abrogated, while in mice missing CRFR2 the effect was amplified. Pharmacological studies with small molecule inhibitors replicated the effect. Currently, several companies are actively pursuing small molecule drugs that bind CRF receptors ... Such drugs could have a prophylactic effect or delay the progression of Alzheimer's disease."
Link: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=74308