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Clusters of harmful proteins that interfere with brain function were partially eliminated in mice using only light and sound.
Research conducted by MIT has uncovered strobe lights and an acute hum that can be used to recreate brainwaves lost in the disease, which in turn eradicate plaque and improve cognitive function in mice that are designed to display behavior. similar to that of Alzheimer's.
It's a bit like using light and sound to trigger their own brainwaves to fight the disease.
This technique has not yet been tested in humans, so it is too early to get excited: we know that brain waves work differently in humans and mice.
But, if they are reproduced, these first results suggest a possible, inexpensive and drug-free way of treating the common form of dementia.
So how does it work?
Advancing a previous study that showed a flashing light 40 times per second in the eyes of genetically modified mice that were treating their version of Alzheimer's disease, the researchers added a sound of similar frequency and found that It greatly improved their results.
"When we combine visual and auditory stimulating stimulation for a week, we find commitment to the prefrontal cortex and a very dramatic reduction in amyloid," said Li-Huei Tsai, one of the researchers from the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT.
This is not the first study to study the role that sound can play in removing tangles and tufts of brain tau and amyloid proteins at least partly responsible for the disease.
Previous studies have shown that ultrasound causes leaks in the blood vessels, allowing powerful treatments to enter the brain, while encouraging experts to eliminate waste from the nervous system, microglia, to speed up the pace.
Several years ago, Tsai discovered that the flicker of light at a frequency of about 40 flashes per second had similar benefits in mice designed to create amyloid in the nerve cells of their brains .
"The result was so staggering and so robust, it took a while for the idea to be integrated, but we knew we needed to find a way to do the same with the man," Tsai said. to Helen Thomson, Nature at the time.
The only problem was that this effect was limited to the visual parts of the brain, missing key areas that contribute to memory formation and recovery.
Although the practical applications of the method seemed a bit limited, the results showed that oscillations could help the brain recover from Alzheimer's disease.
When the neurons of our brain transmit signals, they also generate electromagnetic waves that contribute to the synchronization of distant regions, called "brain waves".
Such a set of oscillations is defined as the gamma frequencies, waving through the brain at around 30 to 90 waves per second. These brain waves are most active when we pay special attention to the search for our memories in order to understand what is happening.
Tsai's previous study had suggested that these gamma waves were hindered in people with Alzheimer's disease and could play a central role in the pathology itself.
Light was only one way to persuade parts of the brain to hum the gamma key. Sounds can also handle this in other areas.
Instead of the high-pitched scream of ultrasound, Tsui used a very weak 40 Hertz sound, a sound just high enough for humans to hear.
Exposing their mouse subjects to just one hour of this monotonous buzz every day for a week resulted in a significant reduction in the amount of amyloid accumulated in the auditory regions, while also stimulating microglial cells and blood vessels.
"What we have demonstrated here is that we can use a totally different sensory modality to induce gamma oscillations in the brain," says Tsai.
As a bonus, this also helped to clean the nearby hippocampus, an important section badociated with memory.
The effects were not only evident in the brain chemistry of the subjects. Functionally, mice exposed to treatment performed better in various cognitive tasks.
The addition of light therapy from the previous study has had an even more dramatic effect: the elimination of plaques in several areas of the brain, including in the prefrontal cortex. These garbage disposal microglia also went to town.
"These microglia are superimposed all around the plates," says Tsai.
The discovery of new mechanisms in the way nervous systems eliminate and synchronize activities is a significant step forward in the development of treatments for all types of neurological disorders.
Translating such discoveries into the human brain will require more work, especially when there are potential contrasts in the way gamma waves appear in the brain of mice and the human brain of Alzheimer's.
Until now, the first security tests have shown that the process does not seem to have any obvious side effects.
This research was published in Cell.
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