Ultrasound may cure Alzheimers someday

Scanning ultrasound removes amyloid-β and restores memory in an Alzheimer’s disease mouse model

Abstract

Amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide has been implicated in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). We present a nonpharmacological approach for removing Aβ and restoring memory function in a mouse model of AD in which Aβ is deposited in the brain. We used repeated scanning ultrasound (SUS) treatments of the mouse brain to remove Aβ, without the need for any additional therapeutic agent such as anti-Aβ antibody. Spinning disk confocal microscopy and high-resolution three-dimensional reconstruction revealed extensive internalization of Aβ into the lysosomes of activated microglia in mouse brains subjected to SUS, with no concomitant increase observed in the number of microglia. Plaque burden was reduced in SUS-treated AD mice compared to sham-treated animals, and cleared plaques were observed in 75% of SUS-treated mice. Treated AD mice also displayed improved performance on three memory tasks: the Y-maze, the novel object recognition test, and the active place avoidance task. Our findings suggest that repeated SUS is useful for removing Aβ in the mouse brain without causing overt damage, and should be explored further as a noninvasive method with therapeutic potential in AD.

My son remembered a discussion he and I had last year about sound, frequency and vibrations and my interest in all related topics, he came across the above link and sent it to me. I'm not exactly sure what this all means other than what it may possibly imply for humans. But of course it's an animal study, if this leads to a therapy that cures or at least significantly improves the conditions in humans suffering from this horrible condition then more power to them.

Only time will tell

I hope it does lead to advances in the treatment of Alzheimer, or at least improve the patients quality of life.

a reply to: SLAYER69

Very interesting but unfortunately, so far, treatments that have been succesful in mice have not been effective in humans with Alzheimer's. In this case the thicker skulls in humans and the larger amount of brain tissue are the obstacles that make it more challenging, but let see what happens if/when they start their trials.

I have nothing but admiration for these scientists. Thanks for posting!

Anything is worth considering in the battle against Alzheimer's.

I really hope this could be the answer, or at least some way towards finding it.

Amyloid might be over-rated as stated in a recent lecture where the lecturer was playing devil`s advocate against his drug industry sponsors.

Deposition maximal in middle-age, but symptoms progress in old age.

I think immunology important.

Saw this video years ago after reading several articles on immune sytem in AD.

Quite impressive, but not much news on this since.

www.youtube.com...

oops - just read the doctor withdrew his claims of a breakthrough.

en.wikipedia.org...

After spending the Christmas holidays with my Father-n-law, I have to say that the average person has no idea what families go through with this disease if they have never been exposed to it. It is awful.

My Father-in-law was the most brilliant man I have ever met, with an incredible vocabulary as well as an amazingly creative brain. Not the nicest nor most socially savvy person, but I respected his intelligence. He now has trouble making coffee at 79 years of age. He makes no sense most of the time, although the creative word use does make a sort of sense if you know where to look for it.

What is so very sad, is that sometimes in his rare moments of lucidity, he is aware of what is going on. He told my husband a few days ago that somewhere between his wife and my husband, that maybe they could find Jack again. His frustration is often very evident, and very sad. I am concerned that at some point he will become violent with his wife, something he would have never done in the past.

My Mother-in-law is exhausted, grieving, and struggling. They live half way across the country, so it is difficult for us to help as they can't move yet. My Mother-in-law is telling me that if she ever finds out that she has it, she will just commit suicide, rather than go through it herself...

The one thing I find interesting is that he becomes much worse as soon as the sun goes down, almost like a switch. I don't know if this is meaningful in anyway, but it is curious. I just wish they would find a cure soon

This means if we go to a rock concert and stand close to the speakers we won't ever forget it.

I already knew that.

There is no cure for Alzheimers. I don't think there will ever be. Maybe a way to put Alzheimers into remission, but remission is not a cure.

It has to do with the way the disease unfolds. A person with Alzheimers loses memory because an abnormal protein alters a normal protein in a memory neuron. The immune system reacts by destroying the memory neuron with the abnormal protein.

Once the memory neuron is destroyed, there is no way to get the memory back. No way to retrieve the memory stored inside the destroyed neuron.

Sorry. But that is a fact.

Some believe that the memory is gone because the immune system destroyed the neuron. So they try to stop the immune system.

Others believe that the memory neuron is already lost once the abnormal protein unfolds inside the memory neuron, so they try to stop the abnormal protein from unfolding.

Either way, you can't get the memory back once the memory neuron is altered and/or destroyed.

The most that can be done is to stop the infection of abnormal proteins in additional memory neurons, which isn't a cure. It's only a remission.

I would say after cancer Alzheimer's is going to be the most funded and well researched illness of our time. I lost both grand parents to this horrible destructive disease, so any news on possible progress of cures should be welcome news.

originally posted by: artnut
The one thing I find interesting is that he becomes much worse as soon as the sun goes down, almost like a switch. I don't know if this is meaningful in anyway, but it is curious. I just wish they would find a cure soon

It's called 'sundowning', and it's really common. And I don't think they know why it happens, although there's lots of opinions.