It’s time to build a nursing home in Florida — for dolphins.
A large number of the sea mammals who have been stranding themselves on the beaches of the Sunshine State are showing signs of an ailment all too common in people — Alzheimer’s disease.
Researchers at the University of Miami have found the kind of plaque and abnormalities that cause human Alzheimer’s in the brains of the dead dolphins from Florida and Massachusetts.
In their paper published in the journal PLOS, researchers linked exposure to harmful algal blooms and the BMAA toxin it produces with the misfolding of brain proteins.
The findings come after 150 dead dolphins washed up in Florida after an outbreak of toxic red algae in August 2018. The scientists couldn’t say if the Alzheimer’s is why they stranded themselves.
It’s bad news for dolphins but good news for us, as researchers believe their findings could provide early warnings of toxic exposure in humans and help find a cure.
Still, you may want to go easy on the smoked salmon. Like humans, dolphins and sharks are apex predators at the top of the food pack.
In their study, scientists found that dolphins consuming fish laced with BMAA caused the toxin to accumulate in their brain, leading to dementia symptoms.
The formation of amyloid plaques in the human brain is linked to Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Alzheimer’s is a progressive, irreversible disorder which causes memory loss and the loss of cognitive abilities.
It is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, and despite a great deal of scientific research, no cure or treatment has been found.