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Ultrasound cleared Alzheimer’s plaque in 75% of lab animals. The result? Improved performance on three memory tasks. See the potential for non-invasive ultrasound to treat Alzheimer’s and restore memory.
Queensland scientists have found that non-invasive ultrasound technology can be used to treat Alzheimer’s disease and restore memory.
The research team used a particular type of ultrasound called focused therapeutic ultrasound, (FTU) which non-invasively beams sound waves into the brain tissue. These sound waves gently open up the blood-brain barrier (which protects the brain against bacteria) and stimulate brain microglial cells (which remove waste from the brain). This clears out beta-amyloid plaque, the main culprit behind Alzheimer’s.
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University of Queensland researchers discovered that the innovative drug-free approach breaks apart the neurotoxic amyloid plaques that result in memory loss and cognitive decline.
Welcoming the findings today at UQ’s Queensland Brain Institute, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said they could have a wide impact for the community.
“The Government’s $9 million investment into this technology was to drive discoveries into clinics, and today’s announcement indicates that together with the Queensland Brain Institute, it was a worthwhile investment,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“I want my Government to encourage more of this type of innovative research.
“Our Advance Queensland initiative aims to increase research and discoveries like this and to put this state’s research at the forefront internationally by supporting local researchers and helping to keep them in Queensland.
“These exciting findings will hopefully be of benefit to all Australians in the future.”
QBI Founding Director Professor Perry Bartlett said the discovery – a result of ‘game-changing’ work performed at the Queensland Brain Institute’s Clem Jones Centre for Ageing Dementia Research– was made possible through the support of the State and Federal Governments and philanthropic support led by the Clem Jones Foundation.
“The farsighted investment of government and philanthropic partners has allowed us to build the research excellence and capacity required to make major discoveries such as this,” Professor Perry Bartlett said.
“I believe the work opens up an entirely novel avenue for future therapeutic treatment.”
Clem Jones Centre for Ageing Dementia Research director Professor Jürgen Götz said the new treatment method could revolutionise Alzheimer’s treatment by restoring memory.
“We’re extremely excited by this innovation of treating Alzheimer’s without using drug therapeutics,” Professor Götz said.
“The ultrasound waves oscillate tremendously quickly, activating microglial cells that digest and remove the amyloid plaques that destroy brain synapses.
“The word ‘breakthrough’ is often mis-used, but in this case I think this really does fundamentally change our understanding of how to treat this disease, and I foresee a great future for this approach.”
Alzheimer’s affects more than two-thirds of dementia patients, and approximately a quarter of a million Australians.
The total number of dementia cases in Australia is expected to rise to 900,000 by 2050.
“With an ageing population placing an increasing burden on the health system, an important factor is cost, and other potential drug treatments using antibodies will be expensive,” Professor Götz said.
“In contrast, this method uses relatively inexpensive ultrasound and microbubble technology which is non-invasive and appears highly effective.
The approach is able to temporarily open the blood-brain barrier, activating mechanisms that clear toxic protein clumps and restoring memory functions.
“With our approach the blood-brain barrier’s opening is only temporary for a few hours, so it quickly restores its protective role,” Professor Götz said.
Research has been conducted using mice with an Alzheimer’s model, with the next step being to scale the research in higher animal models ahead of human clinical trials, which are at least two years away.
“This treatment restored memory function to the same level of normal healthy mice,” Professor Götz said.
“We’re also working on seeing whether this method clears toxic protein aggregates in neurodegenerative diseases other than Alzheimer’s and whether this also restores executive functions, including decision-making and motor control.”
Findings of the research, “Scanning ultrasound efficiently removes amyloid-β and restores memory in an Alzheimer’s model”, are published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
SOURCES:
- Queensland Brain Institute
- ScienceAlert.com
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This is really very good news to know that FTU ultrasound clears the Alzheimer's Plaque. Ultrasound is proving more and more helpful importance of it in many field. Thanks for sharing this news.
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That is not the correct machine. This is http://www.ebay.com/bhp/ultrasound-therapy-machine.
They are $4000 to $5000 US dollars.http://www.dhgate.com/price/therapeutic-ultrasound-machine-price.html
I don't know if you could read the research to learn how to use the machine, but I am going to try and find a way. If anyone knows why we can't do this, can you please tell me?
I would sign up to be a test subject. My mom had Alzheimers. If I am in the very early stages—I would do this in a heartbeat.
Contact the group who is doing this research and volunteer your family who has Alzheimers now to be the first.
Go to https://www.fusfoundation.org/ . Watch their TED Talk and order the free copy of John Grisham's book "the Tumor". Great things are being done in Charlottesville Virginia!
I agree Lynne. When people have lost everything about their life, what can it hurt? Give them some hope! Start using this ultrasound NOW!
If this is non invasive why are they not using it on people now? My mother has this horrible disease and I believe that this should be used on everyone now if it is non invasive. What have they got to lose? Please help my mum and the thousands of others. Doesn't anybody care about these people? It sure doesn't sound like it.
can I buy one of these ultrasound machines? If so how much are they? I will start on my mum and every other person with this disease that I can immediately. They need help NOW