Post by rmarks1 on Mar 15, 2019 22:51:57 GMT -5
Keep your fingers crossed.
Bob
A Possible Alzheimer’s Treatment With Clicks and Flashes? It Worked on Mice
Could people’s eyes and ears help fix the damage Alzheimer’s disease does to the brain? Just by looking at flashing light and listening to flickering sound?
A new study led by a prominent M.I.T. neuroscientist offers tantalizing promise. It found that when mice engineered to exhibit Alzheimer’s-like qualities were exposed to strobe lights and clicking sounds, important brain functions improved and toxic levels of Alzheimer’s-related proteins diminished.
What’s more, the rapid-fire soundtrack appeared to make mice better at cognitive and memory skills, like navigating mazes and recognizing objects.
Of course, mice are not people. And many drugs that have helped Alzheimer’s-engineered mice haven’t done much for people with Alzheimer’s, which affects 44 million people worldwide, including 5.5 million Americans. Also, because the technique didn’t have long-lasting effects — results faded about a week after the sensory stimulation was stopped — any therapy developed from the research might have to be repeated regularly.
Still, seeing that a noninvasive daily dose of light and sound could have such significant effects in mice give some experts reason for optimism.
“It’s exciting, I think,” said Dr. Lennart Mucke, director of the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease, who was not involved in the study. “Reading the paper made me quite enthusiastic about seeing this move forward into some well-crafted clinical trials.”
www.nytimes.com/2019/03/14/health/alzheimers-memory.html
Could people’s eyes and ears help fix the damage Alzheimer’s disease does to the brain? Just by looking at flashing light and listening to flickering sound?
A new study led by a prominent M.I.T. neuroscientist offers tantalizing promise. It found that when mice engineered to exhibit Alzheimer’s-like qualities were exposed to strobe lights and clicking sounds, important brain functions improved and toxic levels of Alzheimer’s-related proteins diminished.
What’s more, the rapid-fire soundtrack appeared to make mice better at cognitive and memory skills, like navigating mazes and recognizing objects.
Of course, mice are not people. And many drugs that have helped Alzheimer’s-engineered mice haven’t done much for people with Alzheimer’s, which affects 44 million people worldwide, including 5.5 million Americans. Also, because the technique didn’t have long-lasting effects — results faded about a week after the sensory stimulation was stopped — any therapy developed from the research might have to be repeated regularly.
Still, seeing that a noninvasive daily dose of light and sound could have such significant effects in mice give some experts reason for optimism.
“It’s exciting, I think,” said Dr. Lennart Mucke, director of the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease, who was not involved in the study. “Reading the paper made me quite enthusiastic about seeing this move forward into some well-crafted clinical trials.”
www.nytimes.com/2019/03/14/health/alzheimers-memory.html
Bob
