Toxic algae may be linked to neurodegenerative disease in dolphins

A team of researchers led by the University of Miami has found that toxic chemicals in ocean algae may be causing neurodegeneration in dolphins. The toxic algal blooms contain a neurotoxin called BMAA, which has previously been linked to a protein involved in Alzheimer’s among nonhuman primates. Evidence of BMAA has also been found in the brains of deceased Alzheimer’s patients and in those who suffered from another neurodegenerative condition called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which is commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. “The findings of …