Scientists have discovered what may very well be a breakthrough within the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.
Over 7 million Americans live with Alzheimer’s, which slowly erodes memory, cognitive skills and the flexibility to perform easy tasks.
Early attempts at treating or managing Alzheimer’s have focused on neurons and other brain cells. Newer approaches have been exploring how other aspects contribute to the disease.
Now, a brand new study reveals revolutionary nanotechnology that restored the function of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) to reverse Alzheimer’s in mice.
Traditional nanomedicine employs nanoparticles as carriers for therapeutic molecules. For the brand new research, a global team of scientists utilized nanoparticles as bioactive agents in their very own right.
They’re called “supramolecular drugs.”
Here’s how they work: The BBB plays an important role in regulating the brain’s environment by defending it against pathogens, toxins and other dangers.
Alzheimer’s is characterised by an accumulation of “waste proteins,” most notably amyloid-beta, which compromises normal neural function.
The team administered three doses of the supramolecular drugs to mice with high quantities of amyloid-beta of their brain.
“Just one hour after the injection, we observed a discount of 50-60% in [amyloid-beta] amount contained in the brain,” said Junyang Chen, first co-author of the study and a researcher on the West China Hospital of Sichuan University.
Researchers studied the mice over several months, conducting experiments, monitoring their memory decline and assessing the therapeutic effects of the supramolecular drugs.
In a single such trial, a 12-month-old mouse, which is the equivalent of a 60-year-old human, was treated with nanoparticles and observed for six months.
By the tip, the mouse — then aged 18 months or 90 in human years — had fully recovered and was behaving like a healthy mouse.
Researchers explain that these long-term effects come from restoring the brain’s vasculature, the extensive network of blood vessels that form the structure of the brain.
“We imagine it really works like a cascade: when toxic species, equivalent to amyloid-beta, accumulate, the disease progresses,” explained study leader Giuseppe Battaglia, a research professor on the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia in Spain.
“Once the vasculature can function again, it starts clearing [amyloid-beta] and other harmful molecules, allowing the entire system to recuperate its balance.”
He noted that these nanoparticles “appear to activate a feedback mechanism that brings this clearance pathway back to normal levels.”
In essence, these supramolecular drugs act like a reset switch, initiating the means of toxic removal and effectively clearing amyloid-beta, thereby restoring balance to the vascular system that maintains healthy brain function.
“Our study demonstrated remarkable efficacy in achieving rapid [amyloid-beta] clearance, restoring healthy function within the blood–brain barrier and resulting in a striking reversal of Alzheimer’s pathology,” said IBEC researcher Lorena Ruiz Perez.
The findings were published Monday within the journal Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy.
But don’t get too excited. Human BBBs are significantly more complex than those in mice. That’s why many drug therapies for brain diseases that show promise in mice don’t work in humans.
Scientists have discovered what may very well be a breakthrough within the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.
Over 7 million Americans live with Alzheimer’s, which slowly erodes memory, cognitive skills and the flexibility to perform easy tasks.
Early attempts at treating or managing Alzheimer’s have focused on neurons and other brain cells. Newer approaches have been exploring how other aspects contribute to the disease.
Now, a brand new study reveals revolutionary nanotechnology that restored the function of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) to reverse Alzheimer’s in mice.
Traditional nanomedicine employs nanoparticles as carriers for therapeutic molecules. For the brand new research, a global team of scientists utilized nanoparticles as bioactive agents in their very own right.
They’re called “supramolecular drugs.”
Here’s how they work: The BBB plays an important role in regulating the brain’s environment by defending it against pathogens, toxins and other dangers.
Alzheimer’s is characterised by an accumulation of “waste proteins,” most notably amyloid-beta, which compromises normal neural function.
The team administered three doses of the supramolecular drugs to mice with high quantities of amyloid-beta of their brain.
“Just one hour after the injection, we observed a discount of 50-60% in [amyloid-beta] amount contained in the brain,” said Junyang Chen, first co-author of the study and a researcher on the West China Hospital of Sichuan University.
Researchers studied the mice over several months, conducting experiments, monitoring their memory decline and assessing the therapeutic effects of the supramolecular drugs.
In a single such trial, a 12-month-old mouse, which is the equivalent of a 60-year-old human, was treated with nanoparticles and observed for six months.
By the tip, the mouse — then aged 18 months or 90 in human years — had fully recovered and was behaving like a healthy mouse.
Researchers explain that these long-term effects come from restoring the brain’s vasculature, the extensive network of blood vessels that form the structure of the brain.
“We imagine it really works like a cascade: when toxic species, equivalent to amyloid-beta, accumulate, the disease progresses,” explained study leader Giuseppe Battaglia, a research professor on the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia in Spain.
“Once the vasculature can function again, it starts clearing [amyloid-beta] and other harmful molecules, allowing the entire system to recuperate its balance.”
He noted that these nanoparticles “appear to activate a feedback mechanism that brings this clearance pathway back to normal levels.”
In essence, these supramolecular drugs act like a reset switch, initiating the means of toxic removal and effectively clearing amyloid-beta, thereby restoring balance to the vascular system that maintains healthy brain function.
“Our study demonstrated remarkable efficacy in achieving rapid [amyloid-beta] clearance, restoring healthy function within the blood–brain barrier and resulting in a striking reversal of Alzheimer’s pathology,” said IBEC researcher Lorena Ruiz Perez.
The findings were published Monday within the journal Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy.
But don’t get too excited. Human BBBs are significantly more complex than those in mice. That’s why many drug therapies for brain diseases that show promise in mice don’t work in humans.
