Open Accessβ-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) is not found in the brains of patients with confirmed Alzheimer’s disease
Author(s) -
Julie Meneely,
Olivier P. Chevallier,
Stewart F. Graham,
Brett Greer,
Brian D. Green,
Christopher T. Elliott
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
scientific reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.24
H-Index - 213
ISSN - 2045-2322
DOI - 10.1038/srep36363
Subject(s) - disease , alzheimer's disease , neurodegeneration , medicine , neuroscience , pathology , biology
Controversy surrounds the proposed hypothesis that exposure to β-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) could play a role in various neurodegenerative conditions including Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Here we present the results of the most comprehensive scientific study on BMAA detection ever undertaken on brain samples from patients pathologically confirmed to have suffered from AD, and those from healthy volunteers. Following the full validation of a highly accurate and sensitive mass spectrometric method, no trace of BMAA was detected in the diseased brain or in the control specimens. This contradicts the findings of other reports and calls into question the significance of this compound in neurodegenerative disease. We have attempted to explain the potential causes of misidentification of BMAA in these studies.