Alzheimer’s disease is a serious brain condition that affects millions of older people around the world. It slowly destroys memory, thinking skills, and the ability to carry out daily tasks. One of the key problems in Alzheimer’s is that the connections between brain cells, called synapses, stop working properly.
These connections are important because they allow brain cells to talk to each other and help us remember things or learn new information. When synapses don’t work well, memory and thinking get worse.
Right now, there is no cure for Alzheimer’s disease. Some medicines can help with symptoms, but they don’t stop the disease from getting worse. Scientists are looking for new ways to slow down or stop the damage.
One method that is getting attention is called repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, or rTMS. This technique uses gentle magnetic pulses on the outside of the head to reach brain areas inside. It doesn’t hurt and is already used to treat depression and some other brain conditions. It may also help improve brain plasticity, which is the brain’s ability to change and adapt.
A team of researchers from the University of Queensland and the University of Tasmania wanted to find out how rTMS affects the brains of mice with Alzheimer’s-like symptoms. Their study was published in Neurophotonics and offers new insight into how this brain stimulation method might help restore lost brain function.
The researchers used a special type of mouse that develops brain changes similar to Alzheimer’s disease in humans. These mice were also genetically modified so their brain cells would glow under a special microscope, making it easier to see what was happening inside their brains.
The scientists focused on parts of the brain where neurons (nerve cells) send signals through long branches called axons. These axons have tiny endings called boutons where messages pass from one cell to another.
There are two types of boutons: terminaux boutons (TBs), which are found at the ends of axons and often connect to nearby neurons, and en passant boutons (EPBs), which are like small beads along the axon and can connect to more distant cells. The team looked at these boutons before and after using rTMS on the mice.
Before rTMS, they found that the number of boutons in the Alzheimer’s mice was similar to that of healthy mice. However, the boutons in the Alzheimer’s mice were much less active—they didn’t change or move as much as the healthy ones.
This is a sign that the brain’s ability to adapt and repair itself was reduced, likely because of the damage caused by Alzheimer’s, including the build-up of sticky plaques in the brain.
After just one session of low-intensity rTMS, the researchers saw something surprising. The TBs in both healthy and Alzheimer’s mice became much more active. In healthy mice, there was an 88% increase in TB turnover, and in the Alzheimer’s mice, the increase was even greater—213%.
This activity peaked two days after the rTMS session, but by the eighth day, it went back to normal levels. The EPBs, on the other hand, did not respond to rTMS at all, suggesting that not all synapses react the same way.
This study is important because it shows that rTMS can bring back some of the lost flexibility in the brains of mice with Alzheimer’s.
It’s the first time researchers have shown that synaptic structures in animals with Alzheimer’s symptoms can respond positively to this kind of brain stimulation. The fact that it worked in just one session is also promising, though longer-term effects still need to be studied.
The results suggest that rTMS could be a useful tool to help improve brain function in people with Alzheimer’s disease. Since synaptic problems are a major part of what causes memory loss and confusion in Alzheimer’s, being able to restore synaptic activity could be a big step forward.
However, these findings are still early, and more studies in humans are needed before we can say how well this would work as a treatment.
In summary, the study shows that a gentle form of brain stimulation can activate parts of the brain that stop working properly in Alzheimer’s disease. It brings hope that one day, treatments like rTMS might help people keep their memories and independence for longer.
If you care about Alzheimer’s disease, please read studies about the protective power of dietary antioxidants against Alzheimer’s, and eating habits linked to higher Alzheimer’s risk.
For more health information, please see recent studies that oral cannabis extract may help reduce Alzheimer’s symptoms, and Vitamin E may help prevent Parkinson’s disease.
The research findings can be found in Neurophotonics.
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