Could Alzheimer's disease be treated with a non-invasive ultrasound? It may sound too good to be true, but new research suggests the drug-free approach could help restore memory.
Ultrasound technology is believed to break apart neurotoxic amyloid plaques that often play a key role in memory loss and cognitive decline, the University of Queensland reported. Cases of Alzheimer's are on the rise, as is the cost burden the disease is imposing on global healthcare. This new approach is relatively inexpensive and has, so far, proven to be highly effective.
"I believe the work opens up an entirely novel avenue for future therapeutic treatment," said QBI Founding Director Professor Perry Bartlett.
In the breakthrough treatment method, the ultrasound waves oscillate at super-fast speeds, activating microglial cells that work to digest the amyloid plaques that attack and destroy brain synapses. The approach also opens up the blood-brain barrier for several hours, activating mechanisms that clean up toxic protein clumps that can hinder memory.
"The word 'breakthrough' is often [misused], but in this case I think this really does fundamentally change our understanding of how to treat this disease, and I foresee a great future for this approach," said Clem Jones Centre for Ageing Dementia Research director Professor Jürgen Götz.
So far, the treatment has been tested on mouse models, and researchers hope to test it out on other animals in the near future; the scientists predict human trials for the treatment are at least two years away.
"This treatment restored memory function to the same level of normal healthy mice," Götz said. "We're also working on seeing whether this method clears toxic protein aggregates in neurodegenerative diseases other than Alzheimer's and whether this also restores executive functions, including decision-making and motor control."
The findings were published in a recent edition of the journal Science Translational Medicine.
