Scientists ‘cure’ mice of Alzheimer’s disease – are humans next?

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Source: metro.co.uk
American scientists claim that they have done something groundbreaking: ‘curing’ lab mice suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. For over 100 years now, Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has been widely viewed as a condition that cannot be undone, so a lot of research has focused on preventing the disease or slowing its progression rather than attempting to restore lost brain function. But researchers from the University Hospitals, Case Western Reserve University, and the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center challenged this notion and explored whether brains already damaged by advanced Alzheimer’s could recover. (Picture: Getty)

What is Alzheimer’s? 

Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills, impairing the ability to perform daily tasks. It is important to note that Alzheimer’s disease is a form of dementia, accounting for 60-80% of cases, and while dementia is an overarching term for a decline in mental ability severe enough to interfere with daily life, Alzheimer’s specifically affects parts of the brain that control thought, memory, and language. (Picture: Getty)

So, what did the researchers do? 

The team administered the rodents with the powerful compound P7C3-A20, and announced their findings in a new paper in the journal Cell Reports Medicine. Through using diverse preclinical mouse models and analysis of human AD brains, the team showed that the brain’s failure to maintain normal levels of a central cellular energy molecule, NAD+, is a major driver of AD, and that maintaining proper NAD+ balance can prevent and even reverse the disease. (Picture: Getty)
So, the researchers took two types of lab mice that have been genetically bred to be predisposed to Alzheimer’s. One group had mutations for the amyloid protein and the other had tau protein mutations. Both proteins are important to cellular function, but they can become dangerous if they accrete in the brain in the form of amyloid plaques and tau tangles — causing a breakdown in normal cellular processes.( Picture: Getty)
The team then injected P7C3-A20 into both mice cohorts at two months of age, later finding out that this treatment successfully prevented them from developing the disease. However, when they injected the compound into another batch of lab mice, who were suffering from a relatively advanced stage of Alzheimer’s at six months of age, the mice completely recovered their cognitive ability and NAD+ levels were restored to homeostasis levels. (Picture: Getty)
As people age, NAD+ levels decline naturally across the body, including in the brain, but without proper NAD+ balance, cells eventually become unable to do many of the critical processes required for proper function and survival. The study shows that the decline in NAD+ is even more severe in the brains of people with AD, and that this same phenomenon also occurs in mouse models of the disease. (Picture: Getty)
Study senior author professor Andrew A. Pieper said: ‘We were very excited and encouraged by our results. Restoring the brain’s energy balance achieved pathological and functional recovery in both lines of mice with advanced Alzheimer’s. Seeing this effect in two very different animal models, each driven by different genetic causes, strengthens the new idea that recovery from advanced disease might be possible in people with AD when the brain’s NAD+ balance is restored.’ (Picture: Getty)
He added: ‘The key takeaway is a message of hope—the effects of Alzheimer’s disease may not be inevitably permanent. The damaged brain can, under some conditions, repair itself and regain function.’ The study is part of a growing wave of very promising lab studies that point to a future where Alzheimer’s and other neurological issues could be a thing of the past. (Picture: Getty)

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