Chimpanzees may suffer from Alzheimer's disease, scientists find

Findings could help scientists study the illness

It is not yet clear whether chimpanzees experience the illness as humans do (Getty Images)

Chimpanzees may suffer from Alzheimer's disease, just as humans do.

Until now, only people were found to suffer from the condition, which can result in severe dementia.

But scientists studying the brains of 20 elderly chimpanzees found certain plaques and other abnormalities that indicate they experience Alzheimer's.

It is not clear whether they experience the same cognitive decline that humans do.

Regardless, scientists hope the findings published in Neurobiology of Ageing, could lead to more discoveries about the condition.

In people suffering from Alzheimer's, clusters of proteins called beta-amyloid build up between nerve cells. The clumps may block cells signalling to each other or activate immune system cells, triggering inflammation.

Along with a team, Melissa Edler, of Northeast Medical University, studied four areas of the chimps' neocortex and hippocampus — regions of the human brain known to be affected by Alzheimer's.

The researcher found plaques and other abnormalities associated with the condition in 12 of the 20 chimpanzees they studied.

But Mary Ann Raghanti, of Kent State University, whose lab ran the tests, said they could not know whether the primates suffered from the same cognitive deterioration humans did.

“Our samples had been collected over decades, without any consistent or rigorous cognitive data accompanying them,” she said.

“So it wasn’t possible to say whether the chimps had devastating cognitive loss or not.”

Since no chimps with Alzeimer's-like dementia have ever been observed, the findings add to a growing body of evidence that the plaques are a byproduct – rather than a cause – of the disease.