Ultrasound technique sees success in reversing dementia

It’s a new age. We’re currently living at a time where some of the most innovative technologies in the realm of medicine are being discovered every single day. Ultrasound technology is at the core of some of these groundbreaking discoveries. In fact, scientists from the Queensland Brain Institute have explored a new technique that could eliminate some of the most detrimental effects of dementia and aging without having to cross the blood-brain barrier. The research was published in Nature journal Molecular Psychiatry. According to the lead researcher and professor at OBI’s Clem Jones Centre for Aging Dementia Research—professor Jürgen Götz—the team has demonstrated that using low-intensity ultrasound could effectively restore cognition without opening the blood-brain barrier in mice models. The results could see a new avenue through which non-invasive technology could guide medical doctors in creating treatments that cater to a patient’s mental disease progression and cognitive decline. Since its inception, ultrasound treatment has been used together with small gas-filled bubbles to open the nearly impenetrable blood-brain barrier and retrieve therapeutics from the bloodstream, and then direct them towards the brain. This current study was carried out on a focused control group that received ultrasound treatment without the inclusion of the initial barrier-opening microbubbles. By the end of the study, the research team was undoubtedly impressed by the results: marking an increased restoration in cognition and thereby proving that therapeutic ultrasound could potentially become a workable non-invasive type of technology. Aging is strongly related to impaired cognition as well as a marked reduction in the learning-induced plasticity of the signaling between neurons known as long-term potentiation (LTP) According to Dr. Daniel Blackmore—a senior postdoctoral researcher that was part of the team—the objective was to see whether using ultrasound could revive LTP and enhance spatial learning in aged mice. And according to Professor Götz’s analysis, the brain was not entirely accessible through ultrasound. However, there were accessible parts that could surpass these challenges over the blood-brain barrier. Using the ultrasound process, it was possible to enhance the recognition of independently finishing amyloid and tau, which form tangles and plaques in people that suffer from Alzheimer’s disease. However, the team has also divulged that microbubbles will be used in combination with ultrasound in ongoing Alzheimer’s research. Currently, there are more than 44 million people in the world that are living with dementia and the numbers are expected to increase up to 115 million people by 2050. Aging still ranks as the biggest risk factor. Previous research studies have also shown that there is greater safety in using ultrasound technology and that cognitive deficits and pathological changes could vastly be improved by using ultrasound to treat Alzheimer’s disease. However, professor Götz has admitted that there are still a number of questions left unanswered about the differences between pathological aging and psychological aging when it comes to Alzheimer’s disease. In fact, he believes that there may be some kind of overlap between the two in the brain, and this could potentially be corrected through the use of ultrasound, and therefore improve the lives of people living with Alzheimer’s disease. The results of this study are now being forwarded towards Alzheimer’s research with the potential of beginning clinical trials soon. Professor Götz and his team hope to understand how brain diseases work by marking their progression at both a cellular and molecular level in the hope of potentially developing groundbreaking therapies.