- Nov 29, 2008
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Light therapy technology making another break through. I can't help but wonder if this could help those who have Autistic children looking for ways to mitigate the damage in their brains.
Scientists Have 'Cleared' Alzheimer's Plaque From Mice Using Only Light And Sound
Article excerpt:
Clumps of harmful proteins that interfere with brain functions have been partially cleared in mice using nothing but light and sound.
Research led by MIT earlier this year found strobe lights and a low pitched buzz can be used to recreate brain waves lost in the disease, which in turn remove plaque and improve cognitive function in mice engineered to display Alzheimer's-like behaviour.
It's a little like using light and sound to trigger their own brain waves to help fight the disease.
This technique hasn't been clinically trialled in humans as yet, so it's too soon to get excited - brain waves are known to work differently in humans and mice.
But, if replicated, these early results hint at a possible cheap and drug-free way to treat the common form of dementia.
So how does it work?
Advancing a previous study that showed flashing light 40 times a second into the eyes of engineered mice treated their version of Alzheimer's disease, researchers added sound of a similar frequency and found it dramatically improved their results.
"When we combine visual and auditory stimulation for a week, we see the engagement of the prefrontal cortex and a very dramatic reduction of amyloid," said Li-Huei Tsai, one of the researchers from MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory back in March 2019.
It's not the first study to investigate the role sound can play in clearing the brain of the tangles and clumps of tau and amyloid proteins at least partially responsible for the disease... more Link
Scientists Have 'Cleared' Alzheimer's Plaque From Mice Using Only Light And Sound
Article excerpt:
Clumps of harmful proteins that interfere with brain functions have been partially cleared in mice using nothing but light and sound.
Research led by MIT earlier this year found strobe lights and a low pitched buzz can be used to recreate brain waves lost in the disease, which in turn remove plaque and improve cognitive function in mice engineered to display Alzheimer's-like behaviour.
It's a little like using light and sound to trigger their own brain waves to help fight the disease.
This technique hasn't been clinically trialled in humans as yet, so it's too soon to get excited - brain waves are known to work differently in humans and mice.
But, if replicated, these early results hint at a possible cheap and drug-free way to treat the common form of dementia.
So how does it work?
Advancing a previous study that showed flashing light 40 times a second into the eyes of engineered mice treated their version of Alzheimer's disease, researchers added sound of a similar frequency and found it dramatically improved their results.
"When we combine visual and auditory stimulation for a week, we see the engagement of the prefrontal cortex and a very dramatic reduction of amyloid," said Li-Huei Tsai, one of the researchers from MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory back in March 2019.
It's not the first study to investigate the role sound can play in clearing the brain of the tangles and clumps of tau and amyloid proteins at least partially responsible for the disease... more Link
