Although the medical aspect will have a major application in the lives of various people, the interest is in how the researchers did this with LED lights. (Science Daily: Unique visual stimulation may be new treatment for Alzheimer's)
It seems so ludicrous that lights could have such an effect on the body and who knows how the researchers came up with the idea for trying it.
Using LED lights flickering at a specific frequency, MIT researchers have shown that they can substantially reduce the beta amyloid plaques seen in Alzheimer's disease, in the visual cortex of mice.
This treatment appears to work by inducing brain waves known as gamma oscillations, which the researchers discovered help the brain suppress beta amyloid production and invigorate cells responsible for destroying the plaques.
It seems so ludicrous that lights could have such an effect on the body and who knows how the researchers came up with the idea for trying it.
Using LED lights flickering at a specific frequency, MIT researchers have shown that they can substantially reduce the beta amyloid plaques seen in Alzheimer's disease, in the visual cortex of mice.
This treatment appears to work by inducing brain waves known as gamma oscillations, which the researchers discovered help the brain suppress beta amyloid production and invigorate cells responsible for destroying the plaques.
- Science Daily
You're the scientist and you see the horror of Alzheimer's so what makes you think, hmm, if I flash the lights then maybe that will help ... and it really does.
After an hour of stimulation at 40 hertz, the researchers found a 40 to 50 percent reduction in the levels of beta amyloid proteins in the hippocampus. Stimulation at other frequencies, ranging from 20 to 80 hertz, did not produce this decline.
- Science Daily
The doctor cautions us that researchers have found successful treatments in mice previously which did not work in humans so there's more research to be done but the results, thus far, are remarkable.
"This important announcement may herald a breakthrough in the understanding and treatment of Alzheimer's disease, a terrible affliction affecting millions of people and their families around the world," says Michael Sipser, dean of MIT's School of Science. "Our MIT scientists have opened the door to an entirely new direction of research on this brain disorder and the mechanisms that may cause or prevent it. I find it extremely exciting."
- Science Daily
Fortunately in my life I've never been in a face-to-face situation with anyone afflicted with Alzheimer's and it didn't take my parents. However, I know from others how hellish it can be and I've seen how it can continue for many, many years. Assuming this treatment really does work in humans, there may be substantive hope on the way. Even when there is no personal association with the disease, I find it extremely exciting as well.
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