Reversing the brain damage of Alzheimers?
By admin ~ February 14th, 2009. Filed under: Uncategorized.
Some potentially exciting news, especially for those of you who have loved ones who have suffered from Alzheimer’s for a considerable amount of time. Scientists have shown the ability to reverse some of the brain damage caused by Alzheimer’s. Article is from newscientist.com and link is here and excerpt below:
By delivering brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) directly into the entorhinal cortex and hippocampus, the parts of the brain where memories are formed then consolidated, the researchers successfully tackled damage exactly where Alzheimer’s strikes first.
“We’re administering BDNF directly to the degenerating neurons in memory systems of the cortex, and preventing their death,” says Mark Tuszynski of the University of California at San Diego. The substance, which naturally supports brain cells throughout life, also amplified the numbers of connections, or synapses, between neurons.
“Our most compelling evidence was the observation that brain cell death was prevented, and that connections between neurons rose in density by about 25%,” says Tuszynski. Improvements on this scale happened in all the animals, including mice with a version of human Alzheimer’s disease, elderly rats and monkeys with natural degeneration, plus rats and monkeys given brain lesions similar to those seen in Alzheimer’s.
A quick word of caution - This is obviously very preliminary news and it seems like trials won’t start for at least 2 years. However, it shows me once again that the extremely large amount of research occurring right now in the Alzheimer’s community is at the minimum producing a lot of potential new treatments and avenues to explore. ..
March 6th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Thanks for sharing. This is great!
October 26th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
great info. as always.
http://alzheimersandmomblog.blogspot.com/