New Alzheimer’s treatment fully restores memory function

 18-Mar-15, Science Alert

Australian researchers have come up with a non-invasive ultrasound technology that clears the brain of neurotoxic amyloid plaques - structures that are responsible for memory loss and a decline in cognitive function in Alzheimer’s patients.

Image: 3Dme Creative Studio / Shutterstock

If a person has Alzheimer’s disease, it’s usually the result of a build-up of two types of lesions - amyloid plaques, and neurofibrillary tangles. Amyloid plaques sit between the neurons and end up as dense clusters of beta-amyloid molecules, a sticky type of protein that clumps together and forms plaques.

We don’t have any kind of vaccine or preventative measure for Alzheimer’s - a disease that affects 343,000 people in Australia, and 50 million worldwide. A team from the Queensland Brain Institute has come up with a technique that uses a particular type of ultrasound called a focused therapeutic ultrasound to stimulate the brain’s microglial cells to clear out the toxic beta-amyloid clumps that are responsible for the worst symptoms of Alzheimer’s.

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