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The team, led by Hiroaki Shimokawa of Tohoku University in Japan, found that the application of ultrasound waves to the entire brain can improve the cognitive function of patients with dementia and Alzheimer's disease. The pulsed intensity ultrasound (LIPUS) to the entire brain of mice has improved blood vessel formation and regeneration of nerve cells without having obvious side effects.
"LIPUS therapy is a non-invasive physiotherapy that could be applied to high-risk elderly patients without surgery or anesthesia, and could be used repeatedly," Shimokawa said.
Dementia affects approximately 50 million people worldwide, with 10 million new cases occurring each year. But there is currently no curative treatment available for vascular dementia or Alzheimer's disease, the most common causes of dementia.
In addition, the cells of the brain's blood vessels are very compact and form a blood-brain barrier. in the brain tissue. This limits the types of drugs and cell therapies that may be available to treat dementia.
Researchers had conducted previous studies showing that LIPUS improved the formation of blood vessels in pigs with myocardial ischemia.
Other studies have reported that LIPUS increases the production of proteins involved in the survival and growth of nerve cells, in addition to contributing to nerve regeneration.
LIPUS treatment focuses on a region of the brain called the hippocampus. is involved in memory, has also been found to improve dementia in mice, but the details of how it does need to be studied more completely.
The team wanted to know whether LIPUS whole rather than concentrated brain is effective in treating murine models of dementia, and if that was the case, what was happening at the molecular levels to achieve it.
They found that significantly improved cognitive impairment in conditioned mice LIPUS was applied to the whole brain three times daily for 20 minutes each time.
Mice with vascular dementia received treatment on the first, third and fifth days following surgery
Mice with a condition simulating Alzheimer's disease in humans received 11 LIPUS treatments over a period of three months
At the molecular level, genes related to the cells lining the blood vessels were activated. In addition, there was an increased expression of an enzyme involved in the formation of blood vessels and a protein involved in the survival and growth of nerve cells.
The study, published in the journal Brain Stimulation, provides the first experimental evidence. improves cognitive dysfunction without serious side effects by improving the specific cells related to the pathology of dementia.
The first clinical trials to evaluate the efficacy and safety of LIPUS treatment are already underway, the researchers said
(This story was not published by Business Standard staff and is generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)
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