Kidney stones often are diet-related, (eating excess animal protein, not drinking enough fluid, or consuming excess salt), but may have additional causes as well.
"The absence of a dose-response curve was disappointing, " says Jeffrey Cummings of UCLA. Moreover, he noted that the drug only very modestly reduced levels of a nasty protein called tau in the spinal fluid.
Professor Holtzman said the result implied that apoE and clusterin worked together to suppress plaque formation by clearing amyloid protein from the brain tissue and surrounding fluid.
The mice who lacked apoE and clusterin showed signs of higher levels of amyloid protein not only in their brain tissue, also in the fluid surrounding individual brain cells and the fluid surrounding the entire brain.