Flashing light stimulation could halt Alzheimer’s, MIT researchers say
Researchers have been looking for ways to use drugs in preventing the build-up of beta amyloid protein in the brain, which clumps together and forms sticky plaques that are thought to cause nerve cell death and memory loss. It is one of the earliest signs of Alzheimer’s disease. But the results of studies using drugs have been disappointing so far.
But now, US scientists are optimistic that a new technique they have discovered may help ward off the Alzheimer’s as their trials in mice show promising results.
Dr. Li-Huei Tsai and colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that a flashing light therapy – in other words, shining a strobe light into the rodents’ eyes – encouraged protective cells to gobble up the harmful proteins that accumulate in the brain in this type of dementia.
The perfect rate was 40 flashes per second – a barely perceptible flicker, four times as fast as a disco strobe.
The mice that they studied were genetically engineered to have Alzheimer’s-type damage in their brain.
When the mice were put in front of the flashing light for an hour, it led to a noticeable reduction in beta amyloid over the next 12 to 24 hours in the parts of the brain that handle vision.Doing this every day for a week led to even greater reductions.
They also found that light stimulation direct to the part of the brain that deals with memory – the hippocampus – led to reductions of beta amyloid there.
The researchers say the light works by recruiting the help of resident immune cells called microglia.They eat and clear harmful or threatening pathogens – in this instance, beta amyloid.
It is hoped that clearing beta amyloid and stopping more plaques from forming could halt Alzheimer’s and its symptoms.
Dr. Tsai said that they are optimistic.
The scientists say, in the future, people could wear special goggles or sit in front of a light-emitting device to get a therapeutic dose of the strobe light.
For the patient, it should be entirely painless and non-invasive. They can use a very low intensity and very ambient soft light, Dr. Tsai said, adding that patients would hardly even see the flicker itself.
“The set-up is not offensive at all,” they said, stressing it should be safe and would not trigger epilepsy in people who were susceptible.
The researchers say the approach should be tested in humans.They are already seeking permission from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and have set up a commercial company to develop the technology.
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