Alzheimer's is an increasingly prevalent and very serious disease. I am sure many of us have family members or know of people that have family members suffering from this neurodegenerative disease. Even though this disease is so common and irreversible, researchers still don't understand the exact mechanism underlying this disease. However, this is a popular area of research and a lot of research is going on to find out this mechanism. Dr. Stutzmann came to speak to the Loyola community and talk about some of the research she was involved in. One of the papers published from research she was involved in was titled, Early calcium dysregulation in Alzheimer's disease: setting the stage for synaptic dysfunction. Her research has shows that calcium signaling plays an important role in diseases like Alzheimer's. Increased calcium along with amyloid-beta deposition may play a role in activation a pathogenic cascade causing the disease. Unfortunately, even knowing this information, it is extremely difficult to find a treatment for this disease because it is not an easy task to figure out how to regain functional brain areas after they are lost.
An article that was published in Time magazine, by Alexandra Sifferlin, had also described various ways that researchers are trying to find a treatment for diseases that cause memory loss such as Alzheimer's. One of the ways that they tried to treat these types of diseases is through deep brain stimulation. Deep brain stimulation was thought of as a technique that could relieve memory loss diseases by stimulation brain areas that were involved in cognitive decline. This procedure was done by first having electrodes placed in a person's brain. Then an electrical current was sent through those electrodes to stimulation that brain area. The results they obtained showed that deep brain stimulation did not help the patients rescue memory and even temporarily worsened it.
It is important to remember that even though there currently is no treatment for Alzheimer's, there is a tremendous amount of research going on and helping us get closer to finding a treatment option.
Sources:
Shreya Chakroborty & Grace E. Stutzmann. "Early calcium dysregulation in Alzheimer's disease: setting the stage for synaptic dysfunction." Science China Life Sciences. Vol.54, No.8. Aug. 2011.
Sifferlin, Alexandra. "Why Scientists Are Still Flummoxed by Alzheimer's." Time Magazine. December 7, 2016.
http://time.com/4592564/why-scientists-are-still-flummoxed-by-alzheimers/?iid=sr-link9
Image taken from: http://www.healthcentereddentistrynw.com/how-to-help-a-loved-one-with-alzheimers-disease.html
Great post. Recent Study shows that it could be effective for older Alzheimer's patients with mild symptoms. DBS is already helping thousands of patients with Parkinson's disease to overcome symptoms of tremor, but its use in Alzheimer's is still very experimental. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteGet more information here: https://novelaneuro.com