Ultrasounds May Help Alzheimer’s
Scientists have discovered that scanning the brains of mice with a form of this disease helped clear the abnormal protein buildrops connected with Alzheimer’s and helped improve their memory. AD’s development has to do with brain shrinkage and the formation of characteristic plaques in certain areas. These are made up of dead cells and a protein called amyloid-beta, which aggregates into abnormal fibers that accumulate as toxic clumps outside of cells.
The study has been published in Science Translational Medicine. A few years ago, scientists discovered that combining ultrasound with harmless microscopic bubbles could be a helpful technique. The bubbles vibrate and expand by the soundwaves, which then creates transient openings in the BBB. Scientists wonder if this could boost our brain’s protective response to the toxic proteins. Allowing components of the immune system through the BBB, they could act to stimulate these cells back into action.
