Bottlenose dolphin, a long-finned pilot whale and a third species found to have markers of the degenerative disease
, whereby mostly healthy cetaceans are stranded because they follow a group leader that has become confused or lost.
According to the paper published in the European Journal of Neuroscience, all three individuals were old for their species, and showed three hallmarks of Alzheimer’s in humans. Abnormal levels of the beta-amyloid protein had accumulated into plaques that disrupt neurons in the brain, another protein called tau had gathered into tangles inside the neurons, and there was a build-up of glial cells, which cause inflammation of the brain.
He said: “These are significant findings that show, for the first time, that the brain pathology in stranded odontocetes is similar to the brains of humans affected by clinical Alzheimer’s disease. While it is tempting at this stage to speculate that the presence of these brain lesions in odontocetes indicates that they may also suffer with the cognitive deficits associated with human Alzheimer’s disease, more research must be done to better understand what is happening to these animals.