动物实验,阿尔茨海默氏症 z-bo 2020-09-24 402

　　A study published a few days ago in the journal Nature showed that 1 hour a day of light therapy can break down the deposits in the brains of mice similar to those that appear after Alzheimer's disease. Although this is still a long way away from working in humans, because it appears to be a safe treatment, it may soon enter human trials.

　　"This is really attractive, because it is an unexpected new method for treating Alzheimer's disease." said Jon Brown, a scientist at the University of Exeter, who was not involved in the study.

　　Ed Boyden from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his team members exposed the mice to a flash of 40 Hz. This triggers the brain cells to vibrate together, thereby producing gamma waves, a type of brain activity that is usually weak in Alzheimer's patients.

　　After being exposed to light for one hour a day for a week, the brains of these rodents began to contain fewer Alzheimer's disease markers-β-amyloid plaques. Light seems to enhance the cell activity that clears amyloid and reduces its production.

　　To date, most therapies developed for Alzheimer's disease target β-amyloid. Although some drugs have produced promising results in mice, none of them can prevent neurodegeneration in human patients. This may be because β-amyloid plaques are the wrong target, and the tau protein formed in brain cells may be the real culprit.

　　However, the Boyden team found that light therapy can also reduce the amount of tau protein in the brain of mice, although it is not clear how this happens.