Ultrasound to Fight Dementia

The ultrasound scientists are using to clear tangles of plaques linked to Alzheimer’s in mice is more focused than the ultrasound used to see the shadows of babies in utero. After using the ultrasound to clear the plaques mice memories improve. One test used to measure this has to do with navigating through a maze (something I am not very good at). Ultrasound was originally used to help get drugs past the blood barrier that protects the brain but now scientist are hoping to use ultrasound without drugs to fight dementia without the use of drugs.

After several weeks of treating mice that had been genetically altered to produce amyloid plaques, the scientists found the ultrasound almost completely cleared the plaques in 75 percent of the animals, without apparent damage to brain tissue. I am officially impressed. The ultrasound stimulates microglial cells, which form part of the brain's immune system, and then the cells engulf and absorb the plaques which most agree are associated with dementia. This research is still years away from human trials (sheep are next after mice) but it is my hope that the approach using ultrasound will work on humans as I am rapidly approaching the age for dementia to begin. Who knows, maybe I’ll figure out how to get out of a corn maze in my old age too!