Reversing Early Sign of Alzheimer's

Currently, there is no effective treatment for Alzheimer’s Disease. Alzheimer’s begins with the deterioration of senses, cognition and coordination, and ultimately leads to death. Individuals with the disease become unresponsive to smells as they age.

A research study done at Case Western University on mice with the equivalent of Alzheimer’s Disease in humans had an impairment of disease restored: sense and smell. Removing a plaque-forming protein amyloid beta, which is responsible for the loss of sense of smell, allowed for this recovery. The researchers discovered that the amyloid beta occurs in too amounts too small to be seen on current brain scans, but still causes a loss in the olfactory system. With this discovery, the ability to smell can be used to determine if someone may get Alzheimer’s. This would allow for treatments to begin earlier once changes in smell were noticed.

Though losses in the olfactory system were observed, the rest of the mouse brain remained normal in the experiment, even the hippocampus, which is the center for memory. In order to remove the amyloid beta, the researchers gave the mice a synthetic liver x-receptor agonist. After two weeks of treatment on the drug, the mice were able to process smells normally. But, unfortunately, one week after stopping the treatment, the olfactory loss symptoms were present again.

Source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/238603.php